TITLE

Hardness testing of metallic material.

OBJECTIVE
Determine the hardness of metallic materials by using the Rockwell scale.
INTRODUCTION
Hardness is the amount of resistance towards deformation. The value of hardness could be found
using the Rockwell hardness test which is one type of hardness testing method and known as
indentation hardness testing, where an indentation hardness tester with a diamond (Engineers Edge,
n.d.) indenter or tungsten carbide ball indenter is forced into a material, and the depth of the
indentation is measured to determine the hardness of the material.
THEORY
There are many methods to find the hardness (amount of resistance towards deformation), and one of
the methods is the indentation hardness testing. Depending on the method, the units and the scales of
hardness changes.
By using the Rockwell hardness test, the load is applied gradually, and the
area of the indentation is measured. Rockwell us used industrially because
is quick, and the convenient. Rockwell alone has 15 different scales,
according to the hardness of the material being tested (Carmichael and
Krikorian, n.d.). In this lab, Rockwell scales C is used with a diamond
indenter.

it

The hardness of any material is an arbitrary number derived from the net
increase in depth of indention as the force on an indenter is increased from
specific value. This test is done under a constant temperature due to reason
that the properties of the material changes with the temperature.

Figure 1: Indentation tester

MATERIALS AND APPARATUS

Indentation tester
Specimen (medium carbon steel)
Indenter [Diamond (120 , 0.2 tip radius )]

Figure 2: Rockwell Diamond Indenter

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PROCEDURE
Before the experiment, the specimen was taken and made sure it was clean from foreign
matter.
The required indenter (Diamond (120 , 0.2 tip radius)) was fixed to the machine for this
specific test.
Then the support for the specimen was selected (in this case a flat surface was selected)
Then it was made sure that the crank was in the unload position.
The correct load was selected by rotating the load wheel in the indentation tester.
The large pointer in the dial face was adjusted to zero.
The preminilary load was applied by rotating the hand wheel until the specimen which was
placed on the anvil, touched the tip of the indenter. Then it was continued to rotate till
required number of revolution of the larger pointer, till the position of the smaller pointer
reached the red dot.
Then the machine was let to rest for 0.1 4 s
Then the major load was applied by moving the crank to the load position very slowly, and
then let to rest for 2-6s.
The load was then released slowly by moving the crank to the unload position and the
reading on the scale was recorded.
This test was repeated several times to get the average value.
The minor load is removed by lowering the anvil.

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CALCULATION

HRC calculation: Hardness of medium carbon steel on either sides

Average Value

60.5+ 60.5+60+60.5
= 60.375
4

Average Value=

72+740.+68+76.5
=72.75
4

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RESULTS
The hardness test for the medium carbon was repeated six times and the average were taken, and the
results are shown in table 1.

Table 1: Results of hardness testing of Medium carbon

Sample

st

1 Value

HRC Test Results

2 Values
3rd Values
nd

4th Value

Medium
carbon Steel

60.5

60.5

60

60.5

Average
value
60.375

Medium
carbon Steel

72

74.5

68

76.5

72.75

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CONCLUSION
Overall, it was found that the indentation testing, compared to other testing methods such as scratch
hardness testing, gives a specific value of hardness, and it is much quicker and much more efficient.
Using this test, only a comparison could be made, but cannot gain any further properties of material,
and specifically, in this lab, since only one material (Medium Carbon Steel) was tested (Hardness:
HRC 60.375 to HRC 752.75), this cannot be compared to any other materials. (n.d.)

REFERENCES
[Online], Available: http://www.asminternational.org/documents/10192/3467819/06671gch.pdf/edc484d2-0cdc-43bb-a15e-c2ffdd8c940c [16 August 2014].
Carmichael, and Krikorian, A., [Online], Available:
http://engin.swarthmore.edu/~rcarmic1/E59HardnessLab.pdf [15 August 2014].
Engineers Edge, [Online], Available: http://engineersedge.com/material_science/hardness.htm [16
August 2014].

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