  Nano- and micromagnetic materials have been extensively employed in
micro-functional devices. However, measuring small-scale mechanical and
magnetomechanical properties is challenging, which restricts the design of new
products and the performance of smart devices. A new magnetomechanical
nanoindentation technique is developed and tested on a nickel single crystal in
the absence and presence of a saturated magnetic field. Small-scale parameters
such as Young's modulus, indentation hardness, and plastic index are dependent
on the applied magnetic field, which differ greatly from their macroscale
counterparts. Possible mechanisms that induced 31% increase in modulus and 7%
reduction in hardness (i.e., the flexomagnetic effect and the interaction
between dislocations andmagnetic field, respectively) are analyzed and
discussed. Results could be useful in the microminiaturization of applications,
such as tunable mechanical resonators and magnetic field sensors.
