Designation: D 2583 95

An American National Standard

AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR TESTING AND MATERIALS
100 Barr Harbor Dr., West Conshohocken, PA 19428
Reprinted from the Annual Book of ASTM Standards. Copyright ASTM

Standard Test Method for

Indentation Hardness of Rigid Plastics by Means of a Barcol

Impressor1
This standard is issued under the fixed designation D 2583; the number immediately following the designation indicates the year of
original adoption or, in the case of revision, the year of last revision. A number in parentheses indicates the year of last reapproval. A
superscript epsilon (e) indicates an editorial change since the last revision or reapproval.
This standard has been approved for use by agencies of the Department of Defense.

5. Significance and Use

5.1 The Barcol Impressor is portable and therefore suitable
for testing the hardness of fabricated parts and individual test
specimens for production control purposes.
5.2 For many materials, there may be a specification that
requires the use of this test method, but with some procedural
modifications that take precedence when adhering to the
specification. Therefore, it is advisable to refer to that material
specification before using this test method. Table 1 of Classification System D 4000 lists the ASTM materials standards that
currently exist.

1. Scope
1.1 This test method covers the determination of indentation
hardness of both reinforced and nonreinforced rigid plastics
using a Barcol Impressor, Model No. 934-1 and Model No.
935.
1.2 The values stated in SI units are to be regarded as the
standard. The values given in parentheses are for information
only.
1.3 This standard does not purport to address all of the
safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the
responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.

6. Apparatus (Fig. 1 and Fig. 2)

6.1 IndentorThe indentor shall consist of a hardened steel
truncated cone having an angle of 26 with a flat tip of 0.157
mm (0.0062 in.) in diameter. It shall fit into a hollow spindle
and be held down by a spring-loaded plunger. See Fig. 2.
6.2 Indicating DeviceThe indicating dial shall have 100
divisions, each representing a depth of 0.0076-mm (0.0003-in.)
penetration. The higher the reading the harder the material.
6.3 Calibration StandardsHard and soft aluminum
alloy disks supplied by the manufacturer of the instrument.
Other disks should not be used, even if they are of the same
alloy and temper as the manufacturers disks, as the hardness
of aluminum may vary within any given alloy-temper parameter.
6.4 A smooth glass plate is also needed.

NOTE 1There is currently no ISO standard that duplicates this test

method.

2. Referenced Documents
2.1 ASTM Standards:
D 618 Practice for Conditioning Plastics and Electrical
Insulating Materials for Testing2
D 883 Terminology Relating to Plastics2
D 4000 Classification System for Specifying Plastic Materials3
D 4805 Terminology of Plastics Standards3
E 691 Practice for Conducting an Interlaboratory Study to
Determine the Precision of a Test Method4
3. Terminology
3.1 DefinitionsFor definitions of technical terms pertaining to plastics used in this test method, see Terminology D 883
or Terminology D 4805.

7. Test Specimens
7.1 The testing area shall be smooth and free from mechanical damage.
7.2 DimensionsTest specimens shall be at least 1.5 mm
(116 in.) thick and large enough to ensure a minimum distance
of 3 mm (18 in.) in any direction from the indentor point to the
edge of the specimen.

4. Summary of Test Method

4.1 Model No. 934-1 is used for measuring harder materials
and Model No. 935 is used for measuring softer materials.

8. Preparation and Operation of Apparatus

8.1 The preparation and operation of Models 934-1 and 935
are identical. Place the impressor and the material to be tested
(or the calibration disk) on a solidly supported, flat, hard, firm
surface such as stone, metal, or ceramic. If softer supporting
surfaces are used, a falsely low instrument reading may occur.

This test method is under the jurisdiction of ASTM Committee D-20 on Plastics
and is the direct responsibility of Subcommittee D20.10 on Mechanical Properties.
Current edition approved Oct. 10, 1995. Published December 1995. Originally
published as D 2583 67. Last previous edition D 2583 93.
2
Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Vol 08.01.
3
Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Vol 08.03.
4
Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Vol 14.02.

D 2583
TABLE 1 Recommended Sample Sizes to Equalize the Variance
of the Average for Model No. 934-1

in or out to obtain a 100 reading. Next, read the hard

aluminum alloy disk supplied by the manufacturer of the
impressor and, if necessary, adjust so that the reading is within
the range marked on the disk. Then do the same with the soft
disk. If these readings cannot be obtained, subsequent measurements are not valid.

Homogeneous Material
Hardness
M-934
Scale

Reading
Variance

Coefficient of
Variation, %

Variance
of
Average

Minimum
Number of
Readings

20
30
40
50
60
70
80

2.47
2.20
1.93
1.66
1.39
1.12
0.85

2.6
1.7
1.3
1.1
0.9
0.8
0.7

0.27
0.28
0.27
0.28
0.28
0.28
0.28

9
8
7
6
5
4
3

0.77
0.78
0.75
0.78
0.75

29
22
16
10
5

10. Conditioning
10.1 ConditioningCondition the test specimens at 23 6
2C (73.4 6 3.6F) and 50 6 5 % relative humidity for not less
than 40 h prior to test in accordance with Procedure A of
Practice D 618, for those tests where conditioning is required.
In cases of disagreement, the tolerances shall be 61C
(61.8F) and 62 % relative humidity.
10.2 Test ConditionsConduct tests in the standard laboratory atmosphere of 23 6 2C (73.4 6 3.6F) and 50 6 5 %
relative humidity, unless otherwise specified in the test methods or in this test method. In cases of disagreement, the
tolerances shall be 61C (61.8F) and 62 % relative humidity.

Nonhomogeneous Material
(Reinforced Plastics)
30
40
50
60
70

22.4
17.2
12.0
7.8
3.6

2.9
2.2
1.7
1.5
1.2

11. Procedure
11.1 Observing the precautions of Section 8, make measurements on the specimens to be tested (Note 4). Impressions
should not be made within 3 mm (18 in.) of the edge of the
specimen or of other impressions.
NOTE 4Curved surfaces may be more difficult to support. When the
load is applied, bending and spring action in the specimen should be
avoided.

12. Number of Readings

12.1 Application of the Barcol Impressor to reinforced
plastic (nonhomogeneous) materials will produce greater variation in hardness readings than on nonreinforced (homogeneous) materials. This greater variation may be caused mainly
by the difference in hardness between resin and filler materials
in contact with the small diameter indenter. There is less
variation in hardness readings on harder materials in the range
of 50 Barcol and higher and considerably more variation in the
readings of softer materials. On homogeneous materials, five
readings are needed to maintain a variance-of-average of 0.28
at a 60 Barcol reading; for the same variance-of-average at 30
Barcol, eight readings are needed. On reinforced plastics, in
order to maintain a variance-of-average of 0.78 at 60 Barcol,
ten readings are needed; and 29 readings are needed for the
same variance at the 30 Barcol level (Table 1).

FIG. 1 Barcol Impressor

8.2 Set the point sleeve on the surface to be tested. Set the
legs on the same surface or on solid material of the same
thickness, so that the indentor is perpendicular to the surface
being tested. Grasp the instrument firmly between the legs and
point sleeve. Apply quickly, by hand, uniformly increasing
force on the case until the dial indication reaches a maximum
(Note 3). Take care to avoid sliding or scraping while the
indentor is in contact with the surface being tested.
NOTE 2It is recommended that measurements be made with Model
934-1 when values above 90 are obtained with Model 935 and that
measurements be made with Model 935 when values less than 20 are
obtained with Model No. 934-1. Values below 10 using Model 935 are
inexact and should not be reported.
NOTE 3Drift in readings from the maximum may occur in some
materials. This can be nonlinear with time.

NOTE 5These findings were obtained with a round robin conducted in

a workshop with all participants present. Eight plastic materials of
different hardness were evaluated with six different Barcol (934-1)
Impressors.

13. Report
13.1 Report the following information:
13.1.1 Identification of material tested,
13.1.2 Conditioning of specimen,
13.1.3 Model number of impressor,
13.1.4 Number of readings taken,
13.1.5 Average of hardness values rounded to the nearest
whole scale reading, and

9. Calibration
9.1 With the plunger upper guide backed out until it just
engages the spring, place the impressor on a glass surface and
press down until the point is forced all the way back into the
lower plunger guide. The indicator should now read 100. If it
does not, loosen the lock-nut and turn the lower plunger guide
2

D 2583

FIG. 2 Diagram of Barcol Impressor

14.3.1 Repeatability, Ir (Comparing two test results for the

same material, obtained by the same operator using the same
Barcol Impressor on the same day)The samples represented
by the two test results should be regarded as not having
equivalent hardness if the test results differed by more than the
Ir value for that material and condition.
14.3.2 Reproducibility, IR (Comparing two test results for
the same material, obtained by different operators using different Barcol Impressors on different days)The samples represented by the two test results should be regarded as not having
equivalent hardness if the test results differed by more than the
IR value for that material and condition.
14.3.3 Any judgment in accordance with 14.3.1 and 14.3.2
would have an approximate 95 % (0.95) probability of being
correct.
14.4 BiasThere are no recognized standards on which to
base an estimate of bias for this test method.

13.1.6 Date of test.

14. Precision and Bias 5
14.1 No precision statement using Model 935 can be offered
at this time.
14.2 Table 2 is based on a round robin conducted in 1981,
in accordance with Practice E 691, involving five materials
tested by nine laboratories using Model No. 934-1. For each
material, all the samples were prepared at one source. Each
laboratory obtained three test results for each material. For the
materials shown, the indicated number of individual determinations were averaged to calculate each test result as follows:
Material

SAN
BMC
SAN reinforced with 20 % glass
Polyester Mat Laminate (thermoset)
SMC (sheet molding compound)

No. of Determinations
using Model No. 934-1
8
22
22
16
16

15. Keywords
15.1 Barcol Hardness Impressor; Models 934-1 and 935;
hardness; indentation hardness; rigid plastics

NOTE 6Caution: The following explanations of Ir and IR (14.314.3.3) are only intended to present a meaningful way of considering the
approximate precision of this test method. The data in Table 2 should not
be rigorously applied to acceptance or rejection of material, as those data
are specific to the round robin and may not be representative of other lots,
materials, or laboratories. Users of this test method should apply the
principles outlined in Practice E 691 to generate data specific to their
laboratory and materials, or between specific laboratories. The principles
of 14.3-14.3.3 would then be valid for such data.

TABLE 2 Precision Data for Model No. 934-1

Values in Units of Barcol Hardness
Material
SAN
BMC
Reinforced SAN
Polyester laminate
SMC

14.3 Concept of Ir and IR If Sr and SR were calculated

from a large enough body of data, and for test results that were
averages from the numbers of determinations stated in 14.2:

Average

SrA

SRB

IrC

IRD

35
39
44
55
61

1.04
0.95
1.11
1.45
1.14

2.93
3.75
2.25
1.93
2.15

3
3
3
4
3

8
11
6
5
6

Sr 5 within-laboratory standard deviation of the averageA,

SR 5 between-laboratories standard deviation of the average,
C
Ir 5 2.83 Sr, and
D
IR 5 2.83 SR.
A
B

5
Supporting data are available from ASTM Headquarters. Request RR: D201087.

D 2583
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