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Hardness Tests
The term hardness may be defined as a material’s resistance to localized plastic
deformation (e.g., a small dent or a scratch). The hardness of materials is often
equated with wear resistance and durability. Thus, early attempts to quantify
hardness led to the adoption of Moh’s scale which was used originally to assess the
relative hardness of minerals. The Moh’s hardness of a mineral is determined by
observing whether its surface is scratched by a substance of known or defined
hardness. Moh’s scale of hardness consists of a list of materials arranged in order
of hardness, with diamond the hardest of all, with a hardness index 10, at the head
of the hardness scale and talc, with an index of 1, at the foot of hardness scale,
Table 1. For example, if some material is scratched by apatite but not by fluorite,
its hardness on the Mohs scale would fall between 4 and 5.
Table 1: Moh’s scale of hardness
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Obviously, there was considerable room for error in judging what was a ‘normal’
scratch. For this reason, modern methods of hardness testing really measure
the material’ s resistance to penetration rather than to abrasion. Quantitative
hardness techniques have been developed over the years.
There are many types of hardness tests. The most important are penetration,
indentation, tests. in which a small indenter is forced into the surface of a material
to be tested, under controlled conditions of load and rate of application. The depth
or size of the resulting indentation is measured, which in turn is related to a
hardness number; the softer the material, the larger and deeper the indentation, and
the lower the hardness index number.
The Brinell hardness test
In Brinell tests a hard, spherical hardened steel (or tungsten carbide) indenter is
forced into the surface of the material to be tested by means of a suitable standard
load, Figure 1. The load is maintained constant for a specified time (between 10
and 30 s). Harder materials require greater applied loads. The Brinell hardness
number, HB, is a function of both the magnitude of the load and the diameter of
the resulting indentation. The diameter of the impression is then measured, using
some form of calibrated microscope.
Semiautomatic techniques for measuring Brinell hardness are available. These
employ optical scanning systems consisting of a digital camera mounted on a
flexible probe, which allows positioning of the camera over the indentation. Data
from the camera are transferred to a computer that analyzes the indentation,
determines its size, and then calculates the Brinell hardness number. For this
technique, surface finish requirements are normally more stringent than for manual
measurements. The Brinell hardness number (HB ) is found from:

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𝐿𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑃
𝐻=
𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐴
If D is the diameter of the ball and d that of the impression, it can be
shown that:

It follows that:

Figure 1: Brinell hardness test

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In carrying out a Brinell test, certain conditions must be fulfilled. First,

the depth of impression must not be too great relative to the thickness of the
test-piece, otherwise we may produce the situation shown in Figure 2A. Hence, it
is recommended that the thickness of the test-piece shall be at least 8 times the
depth of the impression. The width of the test-piece must also be adequate to
support the load. otherwise the edges of the impression may collapse due to the
lack of support and so give a falsely low reading.

Figure 2: This illustrates the necessity of using the correct ball diameter
in relation to the thickness of the test-piece.
Balls of 10, 5 and 1 mm diameter are available; so, one appropriate to the thickness
of the test-piece should be chosen, bearing in mind that the larger the ball it is
possible to use, the more accurate is the result likely to be.
Having decided upon a suitable ball, we must now select a load which
will produce an impression of reasonable proportions. If, for example, in
testing a soft metal we use a load which is too great relative to the size of
the ball, we shall get an impression similar to that indicated in Figure 3 A .
Here, the ball has sunk to its full diameter, and the result is meaningless.
On the other hand, the impression shown in Figure 3B would be obtained
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if the load were too small relative to the ball diameter, and here the result
would be uncertain. For different materials, then, the ratio P / D 2 has been
standardized Table 2 in order to obtain accurate and comparable results.
P is still measured in ‘ kg force ’ and D in mm.
As an example, in testing a piece of steel, we can use a 10 mm ball in
conjunction with a 3000 kgf load, a 5 mm ball with a 750 kgf load or a
1 mm ball with a 30 kgf load. As mentioned earlier, the choice of ball diameter
D will rest with the thickness of the test-piece, whilst the load to be
used with it will be determined from the appropriate P / D 2 ratio.

2
Figure 3: It is essential to use the correct P/D ratio for the material
being tested.
Table 2: P/D 2 ratios for the Brinell test

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The Rockwell hardness test

In the Rockwell test, a spherical indenter is used for softer materials (Rockwell B
scale), and a conical indenter is used for hard materials (Rockwell C scale) is used.
The test-piece, which needs no preparation save the removal of dirt and scale from
the surface, is placed on the table of the instrument and the indenter is brought into
contact with the surface under ‘light load ’ . The indenter is first loaded with a
minor load of 10 kg f, while the indicator for measuring the depth of the
impression is set to zero. The appropriate major load is then applied, and, after its
removal, the dial gauge records the depth of the impression in terms of Rockwell
numbers, Figure 4.
Rockwell testing has two important advantages as compared to other tests
previously discussed:
➢ Application and retention of the minor load during the test prepares the
surface upon which the incremental penetration depth due to the major load
is measured.
➢ The hardness value is read directly on the dial gage without the necessity for
measuring the indentation dimensions, as in other hardness testing methods.

Figure 4: The Rockwell hardness test

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The Vickers hardness test

The indenter of the Vickers test is a pyramid with a square base. The side angles
are precisely defined by the standards (136°). The operating diagram of this test is
given in Figure 5. A square indent is thus produced, and the user measures the
average diagonal length and again reads the hardness number (HV) from the tables

Figure 5: The Vickers hardness test

One great advantage of this is that all the impressions will be the
same square shape, regardless of how big an indentation force is used.
Consequently, the operator does not have to choose a P/D 2 ratio as he does
in the Brinell test, though he must still observe the relationship between
the depth of impression and thickness of specimen, for reasons similar to
those indicated in the case of the Brinell test and illustrated in Figure 2 .
Here, the thickness needs to be at least 1.5 times the diagonal length of the
Indentation.
A further advantage of the Vickers hardness test is that the hardness values
for very hard materials (above an index of 500) are likely to be more
accurate than the corresponding Brinell numbers – a diamond does not
deform under high pressure to the same extent as does a steel ball, and so

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the result will be less uncertain.

For steels there is a useful empirical relationship between the UTS (in MPa) and
HV (in kgf mm–2), namely:
UTS ≈ 3.2 HV

The size of the impression is related to hardness in the same way as is the Brinell
number
𝐿𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑃
𝐻=
𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝐴
Since the impression made by the diamond is generally much smaller than
that produced by the Brinell indenter, a smoother surface finish is required
on the test-piece. The Vickers test form such small indentations that a microscope
is required to obtain the measurement, Figure 6.

Figure 6: Microhardness impressions in an explosive bond joining aluminum

to steel.