CE 3410

Mechanics of Materials Laboratory

“Hardness Test”

Instructor:
Leila Malekmotiei
Section 2
Group 2

Submitted By:
Michael Quintana

Date Performed: Date Submitted:

January 24, 2017 January 31, 2017

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Louisiana State University
Spring 2017
Purpose

The amount of hardness an object contains is vital to determining how it performs under

certain loads. The harder the design, the less chance of failure when stress is applied. In order to

determine the hardness of an object, two tests are given: Brinell Hardness Test and Rockwell

Hardness Test.

The Brinell Hardness Test (Figure 1) uses a ratio between applied load, the given load,

and the diameter (mm) of the test subject’s permanent deformation. The test begins by placing a

cube specimen on the machine. Once the specimen is correctly placed, it is then locked into

place to ensure that the cube does not move during the testing. After it is properly secured, the

load is applied. When the test is over, the cube specimen may be collected and the deformation

is measured. This measurement of the diameter indicates how hard the cube specimen is. The

Rockwell Hardness Test (Figure 2) follows a similar procedure as the Brinell Hardness Test.

The only difference is between the two is that the Rockwell Hardness Test measures the depth of

the indention on the cube specimen in order to determine a specific hardness number.
Figure 1 below indicates the Brinell Hardness Test equipment along with the cube specimens.

Figure 1: Brinell Hardness Test

Figure 2 represents the Rockwell Hardness Test along with the cube specimens.

Figure 2: Rockwell Hardness Test

 Theory

The following equation were used during the Hardness Test:

𝑃
𝐵𝐻𝑁 =
𝜋𝐷 2 2
2 (𝐷 − √𝐷 − 𝑑 )

where P is the applied load of the machine (kg), D is the 10-mm tip used on the machine, and d

is the indent diameter of cube specimens (mm).

Results

Table 1: Brinell Hardness Test of Aluminum

Material Aluminum

Load (kg) 1500

Indent Diameter BHN Tensile BHN Standard Tensile Standard

(mm) Strength Mean Deviation of Strength Deviation of
(psi) BHN Mean (psi) Tensile
Strength
d-1 = 3.72 133.1 67428.6

d-2 = 3.7 134.6 68142.9 132.9 1.9 67317.5 886.2

d-3 = 3.75 130.9 66381.0

 Table 2: Brinell Hardness Test of Brass

Material Brass

Load (kg) 1500

Indent Diameter BHN Tensile BHN Standard Tensile Standard

(mm) Strength Mean Deviation of Strength Deviation of
(psi) BHN Mean (psi) Tensile
Strength
d-1 = 3.9 120.6 61916.7

d-2 = 3.9 120.6 61916.7 120.6 0 61916.7 0

d-3 = 3.9 120.6 61916.7

Table 3: Brinell Hardness Test of Low Carbon

Material Low Carbon

Load (kg) 3000

Indent Diameter BHN Tensile BHN Standard Tensile Standard

(mm) Strength Mean Deviation of Strength Deviation of
(psi) BHN Mean (psi) Tensile
Strength
d-1 = 4.5 178.5 88409.1

d-2 = 4.6 170.4 84727.3 175.8 4.7 87181.8 2125.7

d-3 = 4.5 178.5 88409.1

 Table 4: Brinell Hardness Test of High Strength Steel

Material High Strength Steel

Load (kg) 3000

Indent Diameter BHN Tensile BHN Standard Tensile Standard

(mm) Strength Mean Deviation of Strength Deviation of
(psi) BHN Mean (psi) Tensile
Strength
d-1 = 4.4 187.2 92363.6

d-2 = 3.9 241.2 117884.6 225.4 33.2 110435.3 15730.8

d-3 = 3.85 247.8 121057.7

Table 5: Rockwell Hardness Test of Aluminum

Material Aluminum

Test Number Rockwell Tensile RHN Standard Tensile Standard

Hardness Strength Mean Deviation of Strength Deviation of
(psi) RHN Mean (psi) Tensile
Strength
1 77 70000

2 77 70000 76.9 0.115 69916.7 144.34

3 76.8 69750
 Table 6: Rockwell Hardness Test of Brass

Material Aluminum

Test Number Rockwell Tensile RHN Standard Tensile Standard

Hardness Strength Mean Deviation of Strength Deviation of
(psi) RHN Mean (psi) Tensile
Strength
1 71 63000

2 71.8 63800 71.6 0.529 63600 529.2

3 72 64000

Table 7: Rockwell Hardness Test of Low Carbon

Material Aluminum

Test Number Rockwell Tensile RHN Standard Tensile Standard

Hardness Strength Mean Deviation of Strength Deviation of
(psi) RHN Mean (psi) Tensile
Strength
1 90 91071.4

2 92 94642.9 90.8 1.04 92559.5 1858.8

3 90.5 91964.3
 Table 8: Rockwell Hardness Test of High Strength Steel

Material Aluminum

Test Number Rockwell Tensile RHN Standard Tensile Standard

Hardness Strength Mean Deviation of Strength Deviation of
(psi) RHN Mean (psi) Tensile
Strength
1 101 121428.6

2 99.5 116071.4 99.9 0.93 117619.0 3318.5

3 99.3 115357.1

Discussion

In both the Brinell Hardness Test and the Rockwell Hardness Test, the overall results are

similar. The brass cube specimen resulted in the lowest hardness number for both tests, and the

high strength steel cube resulted in the highest hardness number for both tests. When comparing

the tensile strength values between the Brinell Hardness Test and the Rockwell Hardness Test, it

can be shown that the range between the values increase as the hardness number increases. This

can be caused from how hard the high strength steel cube specimen is. The reliability of the

testing machines could be questioned if the specimen is too hard. Human error could also be a

cause of this. The specimens could have been loaded incorrectly in one of the machines, which

could attest the wide range in tensile values.