Fig 1.
Schematic diagram of the experimental setup for in situ instrumented nanoindentation experiments of water ice (a). Photographs of the Alemnis LTM-CRYO indentation device (supplied by Alemnis AG) (b) and sample holder (c).
Fig 2.
(a, b) SE images of water ice sample and indenter tip prior to experiments. Note image distortion generated by the electromagnetic interference of the Sm-Co magnet.
Fig 3.
Representative load versus indenter displacement curve of experiments performed on water ice sample with diamond Berkovich nanoindentation tip.
Fig 4.
Equilibrium phase diagram showing stability conditions for water ice and vapour in a closed system (modified after Andreas, 2007 and Weikusat et al., 2011).
The equilibrium temperature for a chamber pressure of 1×10−6 hPa is approximately -112°C. The SEM chamber pressure and temperature for the current study’s experiments are shown with a star.