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TITLE

Hardness Testing of Metallic Materials

OBJECTIVE

To determine the hardness of metallic materials by using Rockwell Scale


To learn how to operate apparatus in Rockwell Hardness Test

INTRODUCTION
In discovering an engineering design, a prior attention should be given to Ergonomics and
Material selection. Among these material selections takes an important role. In material selection
the properties of material should be considered. A material consists of main properties such as
Electrical Properties, Mechanical Properties, Chemical Properties and Optical Properties. Under
the mechanical properties, more consideration must be given to Tensile Strength, Hardness,
Toughness, Compressive Strength and etc. In this lab Hardness of materials is discussed.
Hardness is a measure of how resistant solid matter is to various kinds of permanent shape
change when a compressive force is applied according to the Wikipedia. Generally metals
possess more hardness than the other materials. The main reason for this is the high energy of the
intermolecular bonds in the metals. There are various ways in measuring hardness of materials.
They are mentioned below;

Indentation Hardness
Scratch Hardness
Rebound Hardness

There are some properties such as ductility, toughness, strength, viscosity, plasticity, elastic
stiffness which determine the hardness of materials. Hardness is mainly used to measure a
variety of resistances including scratching, cutting and indenting. This property of materials is
used to grade similar materials, check or control the quality level and control the uniformity of
tensile strength. Ceramics, Concrete, Superhard metals and certain metals are some examples of
hard materials which can be contrasted from soft materials.
Indentation hardness is more significant in industrial environment in measuring the hardness of
metals. Indentation hardness measures the resistance of a sample to material deformation due to
material deformation due to a constant compression load from a sharp object. This is simply
measuring the dimensions of an indentation caused by a specially dimensioned and loaded
indenter. There are mainly two types of indenters such as ball and diamond indenters. There are
few scales in indentation hardness as Rockwell, Brinell, Vickers and Shore.
In this lab session the Rockwell indentation hardness test is done. Rockwell test determines the
hardness by measuring the depth of the penetration of an indenter under a large load compared
penetration made by a pre load. This indentation depth will depend on the force applied. Reading
can be gained by the Rockwell Scale.
In here Cast Iron and Steel are used as metal specimens.

THEORY
This test is based on indenting material specimen with a diamond cone or hardened steel ball
indenter. For the harder materials, diamond cone with a cone angle of 1200 is used and for the
soft materials, ball indenter among 1.6mm (1/16) and 12.7mm (1/2) is used. In this test the
depth of the indentation is only concerned, not the size of the indentation. So a prior attention
should be given to the surface of the specimen such that it may greatly affects in the test results.
Initially the material specimen is subjected to a load F (usually 10kgf) in order to have the
indenter in the datum position. During the preliminary load is applied additional major load is
applied to increase the indention depth. When the equilibrium reaches the additional load should
be removed by keeping the preliminary load constant. The removal of the additional load causes
a partial recovery by reducing the indention depth. The Rockwell hardness number is calculated
through the permanent indention which occurred in application and removal of the additional
load.
This Rockwell hardness value is mainly based on a hardness number and a scale symbol
representing type of the indenter and the major loads. The hardness number is represented by a
symbol HR and the scale type. There are 30 different scales while the B and C are more
significant. The scale C is used to measure the hardness of steel and Cast Iron. The Hardness
number (HR) can be calculated as follows;

For Diamond indenter:


HR = 100 - h/0.002
For Ball indenter:
HR = 130 h/0.002

Figure 1
Principle

h Indention Depth

Rockwell Hardness Testing

There are two general classifications as mentioned below;

Rockwell hardness (what we use here)


Rockwell Superficial (Smaller preliminary and total test force)

MATERIALS AND APPARATUS

Rockwell Hardness Tester


Steel and Cast Iron specimens
Detailed design of Rockwell hardness tester is shown in the appendix 2.

Figure 2 Rockwell hardness tester

PROCEDURE

First the correct Rockwell Scale was selected according to the specimen material,
relevant indenter and the total applied test force by using the load wheel. (appendix 2)
Then the correct specimen support either flat or V - grooved was selected.
After that the crank was set up in to the unload position and the large indicator dial face
was adjusted according to the Table 1.
Then the specimen was kept on the support and the indenter was bought to the specimen
surface gradually with a constant small velocity (2.5 mm/s) while a movement in large
pointer was happened.
After the specimen and the indenter were contacted preliminary load (F) was given by
turning the handle wheel for required number of revolutions of larger pointer according to
the Table 1.
Next the additional load was applied by moving the crank from unload position to load
position slowly without making a sound in the crank.
Then the additional load was removed by moving the crank back and the relevant dial
was read.

This process was repeated and got several readings in order to have an average result.
Then the minor load was removed by lowering the anvil.
Then the other specimen was kept on the support and the above mentioned process was
repeated.

Scale
symbol

Pre-load kg (N)

Indenter

10 (98)

Diamond (120, 60 (589)


0.2 tip radius)

Thin steel

10 (98)

WC 1/16
(1.588mm)

Non-ferrous, soft
steels

10 (98)

Diamond (120, 150 (1471)


0.2 tip radius)

Table 1

Observation sheet is attached in the next page.

CALCULATIONS

100 (981)

Adjustment of small and large pointers

OBSERVATIONS

Total test force


kg (N)

Specimen
material

Hard steels

Average Hardness value (Steel) = (61.5+61+62+62) / 4


= 61.625 HRC

Average Hardness Value (Cast Iron) = (68+69.5+6971.5) / 4


= 69.5 HRC

RESULTS
SAMPLE

1ST VALUE

2ND VALUE

3RD VALUE

4TH VALUE

Steel
Cast Iron

61.5 HRC
68 HRC

61 HRC
69.5 HRC

62 HRC
69 HRC

62 HRC
71.5 HRC

Table 2

AVG
VALUE
61.625 HRC
69.5 HRC

Results

CONCLUSION
Hardness plays a major role among the mechanical properties of materials. This property should
be more concerned in order to have the maximum benefit from the material using in a product. It
is more significant to test materials before they are accepted for processing, and before they are
put in to use to determine whether they met the specifications required or not. Hardness is a
measure of how resistant solid matter is to various kinds of permanent shape change when a
compressive force is applied. Hardness testing is an important and useful tool in material testing,
quality control acceptance and performance of materials. Among the various ways to determine
the Hardness of materials, Rockwell hardness test is much important in testing metal specimens.
The depth of the indention caused by the machine is used in the obtaining the hardness number
of a material. While doing this test, necessary steps should be taken to keep the temperature
within 10-35C range in order to ensure the test temperature does not adversely affect the results.
The readings should be taken more accurately without any mistakes. The tables for selecting the
correct scale, pointer indications should be referred more carefully. This hardness test is more
useful in industrial environment and its more significant to know how to do this test
successfully.
REFERENCES

William Callister, D., Materials science and engineering, an introduction. , (eighth


edition)
Guy, A. G., Elements of Physical Metallurgy, Addison-wesley pub. Co. , (Mass:1959)
Van Vlack, L.H., Elements of Materials Science and Engineering, Addison-Wesley Pub.
Co., (Mass:1994)
Kehl, G.L., Principles of Metallographic Laboratory Practice,McGraw Hill Book Co. ,
(New York:1949)

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