Indenting viscoelastic thin layers: A numerical assessment

Normal indentation of viscoelastic bodies is a technique widely employed to characterize the viscoelastic material properties. Here, a numerical Boundary Element methodology is developed to model the indentation process also when the solids in contact are thin layers. Specifically, two boundary conditions for the thin slabs are considered: the case of a confined layer, perfectly bonded to a rigid substrate, and that one of a free layer, supported by a constant pressure. Numerical analyses focus, firstly, on creep and relaxation indentation tests and show that finite values of the contacting layers thickness produce dramatic quantitative changes in comparison with what obtained under the half-plane (HP) assumption. Similar effects are found also in the case of loading and deformation indentation cycles: this results crucial for vibrational phenomena and confirms the opportunity of introducing the numerical technique here presented.