Abstract
This paper reports ultra fine plastic forming of hard brittle materials. Soda glass, quartz glass, quartz and silicon were examined by a nano indentation tester specially designed for this study. SEM observation showed that soda glass is available for ductile plastic deformation up to 300nm in depth. On the other hand, quartz is so brittle that all indentation traces caused cracks. Then, effects of deformation overlap were studied. When distance between traces was so small that plastic deformation zone overlaped each other, the traces were cracked even though their indentation depth was smaller than the limit of ductile deformation, Deformation by a lattice pattern indentation was also examined.
