INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, GUWAHATI

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

LABORATORY SHEET

NAME:
ROLL No & Gr. No :
DATE:

EXPERIMENT: HARDNESS TEST

OBJECTIVE: To determine the hardness of a given set of specimens by (i) Brinell

(ii) Vickers and (iii) Rockwell hardness testing machines.

APPARATUS:
1. Brinell hardness testing machine, 5mm and 10mm diameter steel ball

indentors, microscope.

2. Vickers hardness testing machine, diamond pyramid indentor, microscope.

3. Rockwell machine, loads and indentors: 1/16 inch diameter steel ball indentor and

diamond indentor 120o cone angle.

THEORY AND PROCEDURE:

Hardness of a material has been defined in various ways as the resistant of it’s surface to

plastic deformation, cutting, wear, scratching, abrasion, indentation or energy absorption

under impact. Hardness depends on crystal structure, dislocations, atomic bonds etc.

Indentation Hardness Test is one of the most frequently used non destructive tests for

quality control of machine parts or structural members to ensure that the specific piece

does have the material property used in design. It is a quick and inexpensive test and

information about yield stress. It is presumed that if the hardness is within certain bounds

then so are the other properties.

In Indentation Hardness Test, a pyramid, cone or ball is pressed into a flat surface by

gradual application of a load to produce a permanent indentation. Restraint of the

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surrounding undeformed material means that most of the applied load merely developed

hydrostatic compressive stress which does not cause the metal to deform plastically. For

plain carbon and low steel alloy steels, the ultimate tensile strength (in Mpa) can be

estimated by multiplying BHN by 3.45. For other materials, relationship will be different

and may exhibit too much variation to be dependable. The most common indentation

hardness test are:

Brinell test: A 5mm or 10mm diameter (D) hardened steel or tungsten carbide sphere is

pressed into the flat surface of a test specimen under a load P of 250 Kgf, 500 Kgf,

700Kgf, 1000Kgf or 3000Kgf. The load is removed automatically after appliction or

preset time and diameter d of the indentation is measured by a microscope. Brinell

hardness number BHN is defined in Kgf/ mm2 as force per unit surface area Ac
P 2P
BHN= = (1)
[
Ac πD D − D 2 − d 2 ]
P= 3000Kgf and 10mm steel indentor are used in a standard test. If a material is soft, load

d
(250 to 3000 kgf) and diameter D of ball should be adjusted to keep within 0.3 to 0.5.
D

For BHN > 500Kgf/ mm2 , Tungsten cabide ball should be used. Nearest edge of the

specimen should be at a distance > 2.5d and thickness of specimen be > 5d to avoid

spurious side and bottom effects. The spherical indentor, unlike conical and pyramidal

indentors, does not provide geometrical similitude for indentations of different size d.

d
The BHN of a given material is not constant for all values of due to the varying
D

inclination at the top of a spherical sector.

Vickers test: A diamond pyramid with a square base and a angle of 136o±0.5 between

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opposite faces is used as an indentor. The Vickers Hardness value is defined by

P 1.854 P
V= = 2
Kgf/mm2 (2)
Ac dm

where dm is the mean diagonal of the square indentation.

Rockwell Test: A hard steel spherical ball of diameter 1.588mm (1/16 in) or a diamond

conical indentor (120o angle) is forced into the surface and the depth of indentation is

read on a electronic display. A minor load is applied to provide a firm contact with the

surface till display shows ‘SET’. The major (total) load is then automatically applied for

a preset time. To eliminate elastic effects the net change in penetration ∆ mm is measured

automatically after returning the load to minor value. The Rockwell hardness number

defined by the following equation, can be read directly from the electronic display:

R = C1- C2 ∆ (3)
Various scales use different indentors, loads, C1 and C2. The most common are the

Rockwell C (cone) 20-70 RC and Rockwell B (ball) 30-100 RB scales, used or hard

(or RB > 100) and soft metals respectively:

Table 1

Scale Indentor Minor Major Relation to Brinell

(Preload) (Total load) Kgf hardness BHN
Kgf
RB 1/16’’ or 10 100 RB= 130-500 ∆ RB ≅ 134-6700/BHN
1.588mm
Hard steel ball
RC Diamond 10 150 RC= 100-500 ∆ RC ≅ 115-1500/√BHN
cone 120o

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OBSERVATION AND CALCULATION

The captioned sketches of the three machines are given in Fig. 1, 2 and 3.

1.BHN: Flat polished specimen.

Dia. of indentor D = mm

The diameter d of the indentation for different loads P is tabulated in table 2 and BHN

computed by (1): The BHN vs load P is plotted in fig 4.

P kgf

d mm

BHN kgf/ mm2

P kgf

d mm

BHN kgf/ mm2

P kgf

d mm

BHN kgf/ mm2

If d/ D for P = 3000 kgf is in the range 0.3 to 0.5, then P1= 3000 kgf, else from table 2

choose a load P1 for which d/ D ≅ 0.4 and take three indentations corresponding to this

load :

P1= kgf mean d = mm

BHN for material ( from P1 and d ) = kgf/ mm2

Approx. ultimate tensile strength σu = 3.45 X BHN = Mpa

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2. Vickers: The observations for various materials are tabulated in Table 3

Table 3

Material to be Diagonal dimension of VHN Mean

tested Load : kgf indentation VHN

d1 d2 Mean
dm

3. Rockwell: The observations for various specimens are tabulated in Table 4.

Table 4

Specimen Scale Indentor Rockwell hardness

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Average

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Write discussion and sources of errors:

EXERCISE : ( T o be submitted with the report )

1.Thickness of a strip is reduced in a cold rolling operation. How the hardness of the strip
is compared with its hardness before rolling and why ?

2. Why are hardness testing s used so frequently ?

3. Define BHN, Vickers diamond hardness number and Rockwell hardness numbers.

4. Why is it necessary to stipulate different loads P for finding BHN of two different class
of materials, say brass and steel ?

5. List the main advantages of Vickers diamond test over Brinell test.

6. Find Vickers diamond hardness number of Al if diagonal lengths of impression for

indenting load of 2.5 kgf are 0.363mm and 0.361mm. What size diamond impression
would be made in the same material under indenting load of 5 Kgf ?

7. What is the need and role of minor load in Rockwell test in contrast to the other
hardness tests ?

8. Why is the reading in the Rockwell test taken after removal of major load but when the
minor load is still acting?

9. What is wrong with the test result “Rockwell hardness of steel is 64”?

10. In a Brinell test on annealed Cu with 5 mm dia. ball, the reading of d are 2.2, 2.7 and
3.1 mm for loads of 125, 250 and 350 kgf. Find BHN. What would be the diameter of
impression for a load of 300 kgf?