Domain rearrangement during nanoindentation in single-crystalline barium titanate measured by atomic force microscopy and piezoresponse force microscopy

Nanoindentation tests in an aa-in-plane domain area of an {001} oriented barium titanate single crystal were performed using a conical indenter with a tip radius of 800 nm. The topography and the polarization vectors of the area after indentation were imaged afterwards by both atomic force and piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM), respectively. Two perpendicular oriented cracks in the {110} planes were identified in the topographic image. An unexpected considerable uplift occurs inside the residual impression, which was correlated with a sharp pop-out-like behavior observed in the force-displacement curve just prior to unloading. Furthermore, PFM revealed an almost a twofold symmetric arrangement of the domains around the indent, which can be explained by residual circumferential tensile stresses around a residual impression and was unambiguously correlated to the crystal orientation.