Vickers Test Method

All Vickers ranges use a 136 pyramidal diamond indenter that forms a square indent.

The indenter is pressed into the sample by an accurately controlled test force. The force is maintained for a specific dwell time, normally 10 15 seconds. After the dwell time is complete, the indenter is removed leaving an indent in the sample that appears square shaped on the surface. The size of the indent is determined optically by measuring the two diagonals of the square indent. The Vickers hardness number is a function of the test force divided by the surface area of the indent. The average of the two diagonals is used in the following formula to calculate the Vickers hardness. HV = Constant x test force / indent diagonal squared

The constant is a function of the indenter geometry and the units of force and diagonal. The Vickers number, which normally ranges from HV 100 to HV1000 for metals, will increase as the sample gets harder. Tables are available to make the calculation simple, while all digital test instruments do it automatically. A typical Vickers hardness is specified as follows: 356HV0.5 Where 356 is the calculated hardness and 0.5 is the test force in kg.

Applications
Because of the wide test force range, the Vickers test can be used on almost any metallic material. The part size is only limited by the testing instrument's capacity.
Strengths 1. One scale covers the entire hardness range. 2. A wide range of test forces to suit every application. 3. Nondestructive, sample can normally be used.

Weaknesses 1. The main drawback of the Vickers test is the need to optically measure the indent size. This requires that the test point be highly finished to be able to see the indent well enough to make an accurate measurement. 2. Slow. Testing can take 30 seconds not counting the sample preparation time. Vickers hardness test In this experiment two samples of EN24 water quenched and EN24normalized are used to find the hardness of each on Vickers scale (HV). The procedures to conduct the Vickers hardness test are like the following steps: 1. Switch on the power source. 2. Sample is being placed to check on the stage. 3. Start button has been pressed. 4. Wait for a few seconds till the indenter moving automatically. Diamond shape could be observed. 5. The right hand and left hand line are being adjusted until the diamond shape placed in between of the line. 6. With both line touching the impression corners, the data was loaded by pressing the push button. This live reading against d1 will replaced by an entered message followed by the live d2 dimension. 7. The microscope was rotated and the vertical diagonal was repeated if necessary. Otherwise load the first reading a second time, to complete the measurement. 8. The hardness number and scale will now appear in the screen. 9. In Brinell mode, if the mean of the diagonal measurements lies outside the range permitted in EN 6056 (less than 0.24 or over than 0.6 of the ball diameter), then a warning message will appear momentarily but the machine will continue to calculate the hardness value.

Vickers Hardness test Possible errors during the testing 1. Surface preparation. - The surface of the specimen oxidized with the around environment and it is not polishing or grinding well. Hence, we cannot ensure a well indentation that may accurately measured. 1. The reading not consistent. -H Human may be vary from one to another. Different people may have different human error. Therefore, there will be human error in reading as human cannot standardized their style when perform the experiment. The best counter load used in order to give accurate reading. - The indentation is depends on the counter load. The best counter load to give accurate and consistent result is 500g because the higher loads create larger indentations which are more accurately measured. Higher loads provide more indentation resolution and more measurement resolution so the result is generally more reliable. Typical products or components that is suitable for Vickers hardness. - Brittle material such as ceramics. - materials with a wide range of hardness such as heat-treated steels. - small and selected specimen region Summary In this experiment, hardness measurements are made on heat treated carbon steel samples. The experiment is designed to compare the heat treatment response of plain carbon steel (En8) with that of a low alloy steel (En24) containing similar concentrations of carbon. The objectives of the above experiment is to understand the basic principle of hardness measurement, to be able to perform the two different hardness testing on the same samples, and to be able to analyze the results obtained. There are two hardness measurements in this experiment: 1. Rockwell Hardness test on C scale: includes the test of twenty different heat treated specimens, ten are of En8 and the other ten are of En24. Every specimen is tested three times, the average of the three readings is calculated and tabulated. Then, a graph is drawn showing the hardness response for En8 and En24, in this graph the effects of tempering time and tempering temperature are discussed. 2. Vickers micro-hardness test (HV): includes one sample of each of En24 water quenched and En24 normalized specimen. The micro-hardness test is performed using three different counter loads, 200gm, 300gm, and 400gm. Ten readings are recorded on each counter load. Comments are discussed on the possible errors encounter during the testing.

Before proceeding, remove any oxidation scale from one face of each specimen by grinding on SiC paper to avoid large errors in readings. As well as, to perform the tests on smooth surface (no tests performed previously on it).The testing is not done on the edge of the surface to avoid slipping.

Conclusion From the experiment, The hardness testing is to measure of hardness of materials resistance to localized plastic deformation. This experiment also experienced students to be able to perform the hardness using two type of machine with specific of hardness testing. The result from the experiment is analyzed and the error and the cause of different readings in hardness measurement was discussed in discussion. Objectives: 1. To study the hardness of different material 2. To understand the principles of Rockwell hardness testing