Mechanical Characterization of PM2000 Oxide‐Dispersion‐Strengthened Alloy by High Temperature Nanoindentation

Nanoindentation measurements with a commercial Hysitron xSol 800 up to temperatures of 700 °C have been applied to study mechanical properties of PM2000 ODS steel. Beside the temperature dependence of hardness H and indentation modulus E, a careful analysis of time‐dependent features such as creep and stress exponent was performed. The H/E is dominated by a transition from small hardness variations at low temperatures to a strong hardness decrease starting at about 400 °C. The two different deformation regimes have been attributed to modifications in dislocation pinning at temperatures up to 400 °C and thermal activation over obstacles, when fine oxide nanoparticles of diameter 5–20 nm are present.