Hardness Testing

METALLURGY & MATERIALS DEPARTMENT

ENGINEERING FACULTY - UNIVERSITY OF INDONESIA
 DEFINITION
Hardness - "ability to resist permanent indentation"

Purpose of Hardness Test:

1. Measure the hardness value of materials
2. Used to give an indication of tensile
strength and the ability to resist wear

Testing Methods :
1. Indentation hardness
2. Rebound hardness
3. Scratch hardness
 Scratch Hardness
 Invented by : Friedrich Mohs
(German mineralogist)
 Method :
A qualitative Moh’s scale, determined by
the ability of a material to scratch
another material: from 1 (softest = talc)
to 10 (hardest = diamond).

 Indenter :
Diamond
 Scratch Hardness
Diamond 10
Corundum 9
Topaz 8
Quartz 7 steel file
Orthoclase
6
(feldspar)
Apatite 5 Knife
Flourite 4
Calcite 3 Cupper Coin = 3
Gypsum 2
Talc 1
 Not suitable for Metals very wide scale
 Low Precision & No Accurate.
 Conversion
Diagram from
Mohs Scale
 Dynamic Hardness Tests
 Shore Scleroscope (ASTM E 448) - Measures
the rebound of a small pointed
device dropped from a 254mm height.
 Schmidt Hammer - Measures rebound of a
spring loaded hammer. The test has been
correlated with concrete compressive
strength.
SCLEROSCOPE
 INDENTATION HARDNESS

Method :
Press a hardened steel ball or diamond into the
material to be tested under an applied force

Indentation Hardness :
 Brinell
 Vickers
 Rockwell
 Knoop
 Indentation Hardness Testing
of Metals
 Brinell Hardness Test (ASTM E 10) -
Commonly used.
 Rockwell Hardness Test (ASTM E 18) -
Commonly used. Indentor and loads are
smaller than with the Brinell test.
 Vickers Hardness Test (ASTM E 92) -
Similar to Rockwell. Uses a square-based
diamond pyramid for the indentor.
 Knoop (Tukon) Hardness Test - used for
very thin and/or very small specimens.
 Brinell Hardness
 A Load applied to a 10mm diameter ball.
 Measure diameter of the indentation to the
nearest 0.02 mm under a microscope.
 Compute the Brinell Hardness Number (Bhn)
– D = diameter of ball (mm) D = 10mm
– d = diameter of indentation (mm)
– P = applied load (units = kg)

Load mass P
Bhn  
indented area D  D  D  d
2 2

2
Indentation of Brinell
Brinell indentation in the surface of material
 Important Bhn Variables
 Thickness of Specimen:

Minimum Brinell hardness for which

Thickness of a Brinell test may safely be made
specimen (mm) 500 kg load 1,500 kg load 300 kg load

2 79 238 476
4 40 119 238
6 26 79 159
 Proximity8 to edge or other
20
test locations:60 119
10
– The distance 16 of the indentation
of the center 48 95 or
from the edge
from the center of adjacent indentations  2.5 times the diameter of
the indentation.
 Material Brinell Hardness
Pure Aluminum 15
Pure Copper 35
Mild Steel 120
304 Stainless Steel 250
Hardened Tool Steel 650/700
Hard Chromium Plate 1000
Chromium Carbide 1200
Tungsten Carbide 1400
Titanium Carbide 2400
Diamond 8000
Sand 1000
 Vickers Hardness Test
 In general, vickers method is similar to Brinell
method, but their difference is the type of
indenter.
 Indenter : Pyramid diamond - 136o
 The Indented shape : cubic, measured by optical
microscope

d1 + d2
-d=
2
- d = 0,375 D
 Vickers Hardness

Vickers Indenter

Indented Shape (see by

vickers hardness optical microscope)
Equipment
 Vickers Hardness
(ASTM E 92)
The formula :

1,8544 P
VHN =
d2

P = Load (kg) 1-120 kg

d = Length of diagonal (mm)
 The Effects of
Vickers Hardness in
Materials
 Rockwell Hardness (ASTM E 18)
 Invented by S.P Rockwell in 1922

 Indenter :
 Rockwell C using a Diamond - 120o
 Rockwell B using a Hardened Steel Ball

 It is easy to perform and the hardness number is obtained

directly from the testing machine.
 The test consists of applying a minor load of 10 kg to seat
the indenter and then applying a major load (typically 100
kg) to create a permanent depression beyond that caused by
the minor load.
 The hardness number, which is read directly from a dial or
digital scale on the testing machine, is inversely related to
the additional penetration caused by application of the
major load
Rockwell Hardness
Rockwell Indenter
Rockwell Hardness Scale
 Aplication for several Materials
Scale Symbol Indenter Major Load, kgf Dial Figure Typical Applications
Cemented carbides, thin steel, and shallow case-
A Diamond 60 Black
hardened steel
Copper alloys, soft steels, aluminum alloys,
B 1/16" ball 100 Red
malleable iron
Steel, hard cast irons, pearlitic malleable iron,
C Diamond 150 Black titanium, deep case-hardened steel, and other
materials harder than HRB 100
Thin steel and medium case-hardened steel and
D Diamond 100 Black
pearlitic malleable iron
Cast iron, aluminum and magnesium alloys,
E 1/8" ball 100 Red
bearing metals
F 1/16" ball 60 Red Annealed copper alloys, thin soft sheet metals
Phosphor bronze, beryllium copper, malleable
G 1/16" ball 150 Red irons.  Upper limit is HRG 92, to avoid possible
flattening of ball.
H 1/8" ball 60 Red Aluminum, zinc, lead
K 1/8" ball 150 Red
L 1/4" ball 60 Red
M 1/4" ball 100 Red
Bearing metals and other very soft or thin
P 1/4" ball 150 Red materials.  Use smallest ball and heaviest load
that do not give anvil effect.
R 1/2" ball 60 Red
S 1/2" ball 100 Red
V 1/2" ball 150 Red
Setting for Rod Specimen
 Kekerasan Knoop
 One of MCRO HARDNESS method for small and thin
materials
 The hardness value provides by pressing a diamond
into the material to be tested under an applied force.
 The results of Indentation is between 0.01mm -
0.1mm
 The load applied to te material surface is 5 gr to 5
Kg.
 The surface must be prepared to be metallographic
samples.
Knoop Indentation
Hardness Test Method and Their Formula
 Relationship of Hardness to
Tensile Strength of Materials

UTS = 500 BHN (pound/in2)

UTS = 500 BHN (MPa)

UTS = Ultimate tensile Stress

HB = Hardness of Brinell

Hardness is proportional to the tensile strength –

but note that the proportionality constant is different
for different materials.
 ASTM STANDARD

Document
Document Title
Number
Standard Test Method for Brinell Hardness of
E10 
Metallic Materials
Standard Test Methods for Rockwell Hardness
E18 
of Metallic Materials
Standard Test Method for Rockwell Hardness
D785
of Plastics
BRINELL TEST for WELDED MATERIALS
Testing Machine Specimen
Durometer
ULTRASONIC HARDNESS TESTER

Ultrasonic Portable Hardness

Tester
 Review
1. Describe mathematically the formula of Brinell & Vickers from the
basic formula of  = P/A .

2. Describe the principle operation of rockwell hardness testing and

mention the types of Rockwell Scale and their applications for
material testing

3. Jelaskan dengan gambar pengaruh elastisitas bahan terhadap

bentuk jejak (indentasi) pada uji kekerasan metoda vickers.

4. The results of hardness testing for a metal using 2 hardness

methods are as follows: (by referring to ASTM)
(i) Using Vickers method with load 30 kgf, 3 diagonals data
provided: the first is 0,527 mm in length, the second is 0,481 mm
in length and the last is 0,497 mm in length.
(ii) Using Brinell Method with ball indenter 10 mm diameter and the
load of 3000 kgf, the 3 indentation data are 4,01 mm, 4 mm and
3.99mm in diameter.
Using formula of hardness, calculate for each hardness above.
Explain Why the value of hardness is different (have variation) for
the same material. Which one is the accurate one