Hardness Testing

There are three kinds of hardness tests used by the metal industry today;

 The process by which the three of these hardness tests measure a metal’s hardness is by determining the metal’s resistance to the penetration of a non-deformable ball or cone. These three hardness testing procedures determine the depth which such a ball or cone will sink into the metal, under a specified load. The distance traveled is measured and converted to a Rockwell number.  The following list are the most widely used hardness testing methods that are being run in the massive metals industry: 

  1. Rockwell hardness– This type of test is based on the net increase in depth of impression as a load is applied
  2. Brinell hardness-  This test is determined by forcing a hard steel or carbide sphere of a specified diameter under a specified load into the surface of a material and measuring the diameter of the indentation that is left after the test.
  3. Vickers– The standard method for testing metal with a very hard surface.
  4. Knoop hardness– This method is used to test the relative micro-hardness of a material
  5. Shore–  This test measures hardness in terms of the elasticity of a material