Study of the mechanical properties of polystyrene during indentation by Mandelstam–Brillouin spectroscopy

The transparent diamond indenter lens is effective when used with Raman spectrometers. However, there are polymer samples, in particular polystyrene, that are weakly sensitive to this type of spectroscopy, but sensitive to Mandelstam–Brillouin spectroscopy. In this regard, the point process of studying the deformation of the polystyrene material is relevant both during in situ loading and after removing the load. Similar experimental conditions without the use of special immersion liquids can be achieved by a combined system of the transparent diamond indenter lens, combined with a confocal Brillouin microscope in a backscattered light configuration. The areas under the imprint and beyond it during indentation under the load of 1 N and after loading the material were estimated pointwise by the frequency shifts of the Brillouin spectra of the polystyrene sample.