PHY-603 : Advanced

Condensed Matter Physics

 HARDNESS : MEYER’S LAW

AND ANISOTROPY

Gaushiya
Shaikh
 MEYER HARDNESS:
 A definition of indentation hardness under the application of a constant static load , was
first proposed by MEYER in 1908 and is referred to as the MEYER HARDNESS
which is more rational than that proposed by Brinell.
 MEYER HARDNESS is defined as the ratio of load to the projected area of the
elastically recovered indentation , as shown below

MAYER HARDNESS=mean pressure pm = kg/mm2= ……..(1)

Where,
P=applied load in kg;
Ap=elastically recovered projected area of indentation in the test piece, sq mm and
d=chordal diameter of indentation after unloading, mm.
hence, d is measured after the release of applied load.
 The mean pressure p ,between the surface of indenter and indentation is same as the

MEYER HARDNESS having units of kilograms per square millimetre just like the
Brinell hardness.

 MEYER HARDNESS or mean pressure is determined using the Brinell hardness tester.

 But the MEYER HARDNESS measurement is rarely performed for practical purpose,
although it is the more fundamental measure of indentation hardness.

 The MEYER HARDNESS test is originally defined for spherical indenter, but cab be
applied to any indenter shape.
 It is often used in nanoindentation testing.

 An advantage of MEYER HARDNESS test is that, it is less sensitive to the applied load,
especially compared to Brinell hardness test.

 For cold worked materials the MEYER HARDNESS is relatively constant and independent
of load, whereas for the Brinell hardness , it decreases with higher loads.

 For annealed materials the MEYER HARDNESS increases continuously with load due to
strain hardening.
 MEYER’S LAW :

 MEYER’S LAW is an empirical relation between the size of a hardness test

indentation and the load required to leave the indentation.

 The formula was devised by Prof. Eugene Meyer of the Materials Testing Laboratory
at the imperial school of Technology, Germany.

 MEYER’S LAW:
P=kdn’ ….(2)
Where,
P=applied load in kg;
d=chordal diameter of indentation after unloading, mm;
k=a material constant expressing the resistance of a material to the initial
penetration;
n’=Meyer index; a measure of the effect of the deformation on the hardness of
the material.
  n’
usually lies between the values of 2, for fully strain hardened
materials, and 2.5, for fully annealed materials.

 It is roughly related to the strain hardening coefficient(n) in the

equation for the true stress-true strain curve by adding 2 ,i.e. n’=n+2.

 for fully strain-hardened material, which can be proved as follows:

-With the help of (1) and (2), one can rewrite the Meyer hardness or
mean pressure as
pm= …(3)
- If R.H. denotes the rate of work hardening, then R.H.=
rate of change of Meyer hardness or mean pressure with
indentation diameter d; which means
R.H= …(4)
 Since, K≠0 or d≠0, and as R.H=0, for a fully strain-hardened material,
so, from (4), we get n’=2.

 In (4) when n’>2, the value of R.H. is positive indicating that the material possesses
work-hardening capacity.