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Hardness Test
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Definition: The hardness test measures the resistance of a material to an indenter or cutting tool. The indenter is usually a ball, pyramid, or cone made of a material much harder than that being tested. A load is applied by slowly pressing the indenter at right angles to the surface being tested for a given period of time. An empirical hardness number may be calculated from knowledge of the load and the cross-sectional area or depth of the impression. Tests are never taken near the edge of a sample nor any closer to an existing impression than three times the diameter of that impression. The thickness of the specimen should be at least ten and one-half times the depth of the impression. Four types of hardness are shown in tabular form:

TableHardness Tests
TestIndenter
Brinell10 mm sphere of steel or tungsten carbide
VickersDiamond pyramid
Knoop microhardnessDiamond pyramid
Rockwell
A, C, DDiamond cone
B, F, G1/16 in diameter steel sphere
E1/8 in diameter steel sphere

Definition Copyright ©1989 CRC Press LLC. All rights reserved.

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