Hardness Testing

Hardness Testing
1. Hardness- Resistance of material to
permanent indentation.

2. Indentation hardness is not a

fundamental property of material.

3. Reliable relationship has been

established between various tests and
important properties of materials-like
tensile strength, machinability

4. Hardness test is one of the more

reliable control of heat treatment and
quality of manufactured parts.
 Types of hardness tests
• Brinell hardness test-for forgings and
castings
• Vickers hardness test-for very small and
thin parts and for case depth
determination
• Knoop hardness test-for thin parts
• Rockwell harness test-is more popular and
is used for a wide variety of applications
 Brinell hardness test
• Invented by Dr .J.A. Brinell of
Sweden in the year 1900
• Used for testing forgings and
castings using 3000kgs test
force and 10mm ball.
• Either hardened steel Ball or
Carbide ball is used
• With steel ball max 444
hardness can be checked.
With Carbide ball 627
hardness can be checked.
• ASTM E 10 & ISO 6506 are
international standards.
 Brinell test method
• Indentor is pressed into test part by accurately
controlled test force.Force can vary from500 kg
to 3000kg
• Earlier steel ball was used now only carbide ball
is used
• Force is maintained for 10-15 sec.
• Diameter of the round indent formed is
measured optically or with microscope
• Brinell hardness number is the value got by
dividing the test force by the surface area of the
indent.
Principle of Brinell hardness testing
 Brinell test--contd
• Min Thickness of material =F/pi x HB
• Advantages.
1. One scale covers the entire range.
2. Wide range of test forces and ball sizes can
be used depending upon material and
thickness.
3.Non destructive
• Disadavantages
1.Slow
2.No direct reading .
Brinell Test—AAL Test Components

Component Under Test Indentation after Test

Brinell Test—AAL Test Components

Forged Component Casting Components

Brinell Test—AAL Test Components

Forged Component Casting Components

 Vickers hardness test
• Developed in England in 1925.
• Also known as Diamond Pyramid
Hardness test
• 10g to 1000g load is call micro
hardness test and 1kg to 100kg is
called macro hardness test.
• Indentor is same irrespective of load.
• ASTM E384 for micro hardness testing,
ASTM E92 for macro hardness testing &
ISO 6507-1,2,3 for both micro and
macro ranges are international
standards.
• Test method is similar to Brinell test.
• Represented as …HV.. ( eg,. 750 HV1)
Vickers hardness test
Vickers hardnes test
Vicker’s hardness indentation
 Vickers hardness test
• Advantages
1. One scale covers entire range
2. Wide range of test forces to suit every
application
3.Non destructive
• Dsiadvantages.
1.Area to be tested needs to be polished
2.Slow
3.No direct reading.
 Rockwell hardness test
• Stanley P.Rockwell invented the test
• ASTM E 18 , ISO 6508 are international test standards
for metals. For plastics ASTM D 785
• Two types of tests
1.Rockwell-minor load is 10kgf. Major load 60,100 or 150
kgf
2.Superficial Rockwell- minor load 3kgf. Major load 15,30
or 45 kgf.
• Two types of indentors
1.Diamond cone
2.Steel ball
• There are 30 different scales, most common B and C
scales
 Advantages of Rockwell test
• Very rapid, takes five to ten seconds on a
manually operated unit.
• Indentation is extremely small and hence
need not be removed
• Applicable for wide range of sizes
• Directly read from the dial gauge or from
digital disply
• Relatively insensitive to surface finish.
 Principle of Rockwell test.
• Rockwell test consists of depth to which steel
ball or Brale diamond indentor is forced by
heavy(major) load beyond the depth of
previously applied light (minor) load
• Minor load is applied first and a reference or
SET position is established on the dial gauge.
Then the major load is applied.Wihout moving
the piece being tested , major load is removed
and ,with the minor load still applied Rockwell
hardness number is automatically indicated on
dial gauge.
• Entire process takes 5 to 10 seconds.
Principle of Rockwell hardness test
Rockwell hardness test

Hardened Component
Rockwell hardness test

Indentation

Hardened Component
Rockwell hardness test
Rockwell hardness test
Rockwell hardness test
Vickers hardness test
Vickers's hardness:
Typical Application of Scales
 Vickers's hardness:
Regular and Superficial Tester Table
Vickers hardness test- Tools
Vickers's hardness:
Minimum Thickness Chart
Vickers's hardness:
Conversion Charts
 Types of penetrators
• The Brale Diamond penetrator –is used for
hardened steel and cemented carbides
• Steel ball penetrators are used when
testing materials such as annealed steel,
copper alloys , aluminium, plastics, etc
• Steel balls are available in 1/16, 1/8, ¼
and 1/2 inch diameters
File test