Brinell Hardness Test

Kalla Rohit, KVS Aditya, Kavya S, Kesava Vishnu, Khagesh Bharadwaj, Pravallika Yadav, Lipi Roy
IIST Department of Aerospace
(Dated: August 12, 2016; Experiment number 1)

Hardness of a material is its resistance to plastic deformation. In the Brinell Hardness test, the
indentation was caused when a hardened mild steel ball was subjected to loading on a specimen and the
diameter of the indents was measured using a microscope. This test was done with two sample specimens,
Aluminium and Cast Iron, and their Brinell hardness number was calculated. Brinell hardness number is
one of the methods to determine the hardness of a specimen. It is found that Cast Iron is harder than
Aluminium The findings are tabulated and shown.

I. Introduction II. Apparatus

Hardness is the property of a material by The experimental apparatus consists of a Brinell
virtue of its ability to resist abrasion, indentation hardness tester, appropriate loads, test specimens,
(or penetration). It is the resistance of the sandpaper and a microscope.
metal to permanent plastic deformation. The
Brinell Hardness number (BHN) is a hardness Figure 2 shows the schematic of a Brinell
index, calculated by pressing an indenter into test hardness tester. It uses lever mechanism to magnify
specimen under standardized loading [1]. Equation load, which is applied on the test specimen. It has
1 gives the formula for the calculation of BHN. two loads, major load and minor load. Minor load
is 250 Kg (for the present model of Brinell hardness
applied load (kg) tester) which is applied manually by rotating a
BHN =
area of indentation shaft which rises the test table and brings the
2F specimen in contact with indenter. Major load
BHN = (1) is applied when weights are hanged behind the
D(D D2 d2 ) machine.
where F is the load applied in Kg, D is the
diameter of indenter in mm and d is the diameter
of the indent in mm.
BHN for different materials is shown in
Appendix. Figure 1 shows the application of load
on the specimen. In this, the load is applied on
indenter which is on specimen thereby causing an
indent on the surface of specimen.

FIG. 1. (a) Brinell specimen setup (b) Specimen FIG. 2. The Brinell Hardness tester [2]
after indent was made [2]

1
 III. Procedure IV Results
III.1. Indent formation IV.1. Aluminium
The test specimens (Aluminium and Cast Iron The force applied (major and minor loads) on
blocks) were given and their base face and the Aluminium to make an indentation is 500 Kgf
face to be indented was made smooth using and the diameter of indenter is 10mm. BHN is
a sandpaper. The Brinell hardness tester was calculated using equation 1. Table I tabulates the
switched on after the specimen was placed on it. observations and calculations made.
The handle of the machine was moved to A and
a minor loading of 250 kg was given by manually S.no d Average d BHN
rotating a shaft which rises the test table and
2.29 mm
the handle was moved to B and a major load 1 2.255 mm 123.41 Kgf
of 250 kg was given to the Aluminium block. 2.22 mm
When we apply the major load, the pointer in
the dial rotates for some time and then it halts, 2.20 mm
2 2.305 mm 117.92 Kgf
indicating that the indentation was done. Then 2.41 mm
the diameter of the indent was measured using a
microscope. The above process was repeated to 2.30 mm
3 2.305 mm 120.60 Kgf
produce four indents, each at different places in 2.27 mm
the same specimen block. Then the Cast Iron
block was taken and the above process was repeated
TABLE I. Calculations for Aluminium specimen
except that the major loading was 2750 kg since
Cast Iron is harder than Aluminium. where d is the diameter of indent in mm, BHN
is the Brinell Hardness number in Kgf. From the
table, the average BHN is 120.64 Kgf/mm2 and
III.2. Determining the diameter of
the standard deviation was calculated to be 2.241
indent Kgf/mm2 .
Figure 3 shows the view of diameter through a
microscope. While measuring the diameter, zero IV.2. Cast Iron
on the scale of the microscope was aligned tangent
to the indent. The thimble was set to zero. The The force applied on Cast Iron to make
main scale reading ( MSR ) was measured as the an indentation is 3000 Kgf and the diameter
distance on the scale between two points on the of indenter is 10mm. Table II tabulates the
circle and taken to the nearest 0.5 mm. Then the observations and calculations made.
thimble was adjusted till the peripheri of the mark
came. Equation 2 gives the formula for the reading S.no d Average d BHN
(diameter) d. 5.190 mm
d = M SR + (0.01 reading on thimble) (2) 1 5.185 mm 131.780 Kgf
5.185 mm
5.130 mm
2 5.165 mm 132.695 Kgf
5.20 mm
5.090 mm
3 5.100 mm 136.487 Kgf
5.185 mm

TABLE II. Calculations for Cast Iron specimen

where d is the diameter of indent in mm, BHN

is the Brinell Hardness number in Kgf. From the
FIG. 3. Indent through a microscope [2] table, the average BHN is 133.65 Kgf/mm2 and

2
the standard deviation was calculated to be 2.037
Kgf/mm2 .
V. Discussion
Brinell hardness test was performed for
Aluminium and Cast Iron. In each specimen four
indentations were made by constant loading and
the diameter for each indentation was measured
twice in different angles (Refer to Table I, II).
From the experiment,
BHN for Aluminium is 120.64 Kgf/mm 2 2nd Edition, ASM International, The
BHN for Cast Iron is 133.65 Kgf/mm2
The result implies that Cast Iron is more
resistant to local deformation than Aluminium.
Also, as BHN represents hardness, the tensile
strength of a material is directly proportional to
its brinell hardness [1]. As Cast Iron has more
hardness compared to Aluminium, Cast Iron can
be used in pipes, machines, automotive industry
parts [3].
Possible errors in the experiment are : surface
of the specimen might contain some irregularities
even though it is cleaned, errors made while reading
diameter of the indentation using the microscope.
results depend on all these parameters. The
Aluminium specimen showed indentation on
applying a smaller amount of load as compared to
Cast Iron. It is a vital to test most materials before
they are accepted for processing, and before they
are put in to use to determine whether they meet
the specifications required or not. This is one of
the tests for hardness.
VII. References
[1] Harry Chandler, Hardness Testing,
Materials Information Society. ISBN-13:
978-1-61503-832-9.
[2] D.Tabor, The Hardness of metals, Clarendon
Press, Oxford, ISBN-0-19-850776-3.
[3] Donald R. Askeland , Pradeep P.Phule,
The Science and Engineering of materials,
5th Edition, Cengage Learning, ISBN-13:
978-81-315-0321-8.
VIII. Appendix

VI. Conclusion
After performing the Brinell Hardness test, the
average Brinell hardness number of the Aluminium
and Cast Iron were found to be 120.64 Kgf /mm2
and 133.65 Kgf /mm2 respectively. The BHN is
found to give a good approximation of the hardness
of the material and its strength, as both these
properties are in inverse relation [3]. Since the
experiment depends upon point of indentation,
loading measurements and surface cleaning, the FIG. 4. BHN for different materials [3]