When a constant load is applied on the surface of a sample with a suitable indenter over a period of time, plastic yield and creep take place as the indenter penetrates the material. The variation in the indentation size, expressed either as a change in diameter (Brinell test) or diagonal length (Vickers test) is monitored with dwell time. Thus, the time-dependent flow behavior of materials can be studied by these simple hardness tests.
This can be particularly advantageous when the material is only available as small test-pieces or there are some difficulties with the machining of samples made of very soft materials. Therefore, the indentation creep tests, regarded as a quick, simple and non-destructive procedure to extract information on the mechanical behavior of materials, not only greatly reduce the effort for sample preparation but also reduce the sample-to-sample variation in properties