thin layer - nanoscale in ABAQUS

[a80en]

Hallo,

I am going to analyze the thin layer structure and the structure will be loaded by an nanoindentor(hard contact).

However the dimension comparison between the substrate and the thin layer is very large, in my case the substrate will be in milimeter(mm=10e-3m) and the thin layer will be in nanometer(nm=10E-9m).

Does anyone have ideas to overcome this problem?
I am thinking about using infinte element or submodelling but somehow i didn't know yet to model a structure in nanometer dimension.

Thanks in advance!

 

[corus]

You could try applying thin shells to a solid model. I'd alter your units to give more 'whole' numbers though as Abaqus has (or used to) have problems with small numbers in plotting results.

corus

 

[xerf]

Some time ago I used a 2D model of a multilayer structure in which the thinnest layer was 1 micron thick whereas the adjacent layer was 2 mm thick. I used mm as the lenght unit for describing the model and only continuum elements.

As corus said, ABAQUS/CAE may plot geometry described by small numbers in a too rough manner. Thus, you might want to consider describing your model in microns.

Anyway, if you are not interested in the deformations / stress /strain field over the domain of the indenter you can model it as a rigid body. If the size of the contact area is of the order of magnitude of the thin layer then it is not necessary to model the whole indenter but only a portion a bit bigger than the contact region.