Manufacturing and Materials Brinell Hardness Test

FOEIT

EAT 104

MANUFACTURING AND MATERIALS

Tensile Test

Lecturer: Ms. Nadirah

Group Members:
Abdul Aziz SCSJ-0018643
Abu Backer Ibrahim SCSJ-0018578

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Manufacturing and Materials Brinell Hardness Test

Table of contents
Abstract 3

Objective 4

Introduction 4

Apparatus 5

Method 5

Result and calculations 6

Chart of comparison 7

Discussion 7

Conclusion 8

References 8

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Manufacturing and Materials Brinell Hardness Test

ABSTRACT:
Brinell hardness testing is a method to find the hardness of a material and how tough or hard
is the material by performing this experiment on Brinell machine. We utilize this experiment
to find the hardness number of different metals like steel and aluminum by using Brinell
machine.

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Manufacturing and Materials Brinell Hardness Test

OBJECTIVE:
The main objective of this test is to inspect the hardness of the specimen provided i.e.
Aluminum and Steel., by using different load on each metal by the use of brinell machine and
to know which metal has more capacity tto resist the deformation.

Introduction:
Hardness testing measures a materials strength by determining resistance to penetration.
In 1900 a famous Swedish specialist by the name of J.A Brinell designed his own way to find
material hardness.

The concept of hardness is used every day for example sometime we scratch a CD with our
finger nails so hardness is involved. Hardness is used to measure the quality of resistances
which includes scratching cutting and hardening are involved. Hardness test also involves
Rockwell test and Vicker test.

In this experiment a ball of steel is pressed on a metal specimen to test its hardness. Different
metals will have different impressions and craters made on them due to their hardness level.

Then the below formula should be applied to find what we call Brinell hardness number
(BHN) or (HB).

D( D 2d 2)
D
2 ( )

F
BHN=

Where F is the applied load, Kg

D is the diameter of the steel ball, mm

d is the diameter of the indentation, mm

t is the depth of impression, mm

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Manufacturing and Materials Brinell Hardness Test

Apparatus:
1. Brinell testing machine
2. 10mm ball indenter
3. Specimen
4. 20 times magnification microscope

Brinell Testing Machine

Method:
1. Install the indenter
2. Place the specimen on the platen
3. Turn the hand wheel to lower the indenter so it just touches the specimen
4. Set the stress gauge reading to zero
5. Start the test by turn the hand wheel to maximum which is around 10-15 kN)
6. Remove the specimen
7. Use microscope to measure the diameter of dent made by indenter

Results and calculation:

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Manufacturing and Materials Brinell Hardness Test

The table below shows the results of experiments and the standard values

Specimen 1: Specimen 2:
Aluminum Steel
Diameter of the ball D (mm) 10 10

Diameter of the dent, d (mm) 2.32 5.05

Test Weight, F (kg)

750 Kgf 3000 Kgf
D( D d )
2 2

D 175 139.53
BHN= ( )
2

F

Standard BHN 95 140

Calculations:

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Manufacturing and Materials Brinell Hardness Test

Chart of Experimented Values and Theoretical Values:

Experimented Values VS Theoretical Values

Theoretical Value Standard Value

175

139.53 140

95

Aluminum Steel

Discussion:
This experiment was used to determine the hardness of different types of
materials. Steel and aluminum were used as specimen. The experiment
shows us that the hardness number and the diameter of the crater are directly
proportional. For determining the diameter of the crater impression on each
specimen we used a 20x microscope whereas diameter of the steel ball
indenter was already known.

After doing the experiment we find that the steel is stronger than the
aluminum because it has the highest number of hardness of the both
specimen. Specimen with the same dimension were used to maintain
Crater impression
accuracy. Through the experiment we found out that the Brinell hardness on steel
number of steel is 140 and for the aluminum is 175 which proves that steel
has the property of resisting abrasion more efficiently than aluminum. This is because of the
chemical composition and structural makeup of Steel. The Close-packed crystal structures
played a main role in resisting the abrasion and deformation. Hardness is also dependent on
various properties of metals including but not limited to Ductility, toughness, viscoelasticity
and viscosity.

The BHN value we calculated form the experiment for Steel was almost very accurate to the
theoretical value. However, the value calculated for Aluminum is very different from the

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Manufacturing and Materials Brinell Hardness Test

theoretical value with a difference of 80. This error could be because of the rough surface of
the specimen used. The diameter of the indented crater on the specimen couldve been
recorded wrongly.

Conclusion:
In conclusion Brinell hardness test is useful to find out how hard the material is. From
experiment the number of steel and aluminum were calculated successfully which proved
steel to be stronger than aluminum. We also learnt the mistakes we mightve made during the
experiment in calculating the value of Aluminum which resulted in a high difference between
theoretical and experimental values.

References:
William D.Callister,Jr.(2010)Material Science And Engineering An Introduction.
7thEd.Hardness. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. United State of America. page 155.
William D.Callister,Jr.(2010)Material Science And Engineering An Introduction.
7thEd.Hardness. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. United State of America. Figure 6.18. Page
159.
http://ar.scribd.com/doc/150145263/Material-Science-Hardness-Test-Lab-Report
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/bhn-brinell-hardness-number-d_1365.html