Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
The main objective of this experiment is to have the students to experience Rockwell
Hardness test machine firsthand, and how to use this equipment to determine a materials
hardness. Two specimens are used for this experiment, wherein the first specimen is subjected
into the Rockwell Hardness testing machine. Then the specimen is subjected into a given load,
which is in the form of a diamond cone. After the indentation is made, the empirical hardness
number is then gathered from a dial gage. The above process is then repeated for the second
specimen. The data gathered is used to evaluate the hardness of the two specimens.
INTRODUCTION
Hardness can be defined as resistance to penetration, resistance to abrasion, resistance to
scratching, or resistance to cutting. These are related in that they all require plastic flow of the
material. A variety of tests for hardness are in use, depending on which of the above situations is
of most interest. Material properties, such as hardness can be altered to desired levels by various
heat treatment procedures. In this experiment, the Rockwell Hardness Test shall be introduced to
determine a materials hardness.
1
2
3
4
5
16.2
17.0
15.7
16.8
17.2
A 2 Treated
68
67
66
64
64
1. For each of the samples find the average values of hardness and then standard deviation?
Trial
1
2
3
4
5
Average
Variance
Standard Deviation
16.2
17.0
15.7
16.8
17.2
16.58
275.20
16.58
16.2+17+15.7+ 16.8+17.2
=16.58
5
Variance=
A 2 Treated Steel
68
67
66
64
64
65.8
4332.2
65.8
Same calculation had done for the treated steel; from the results of both materials we can
see both standard deviation and average are the same for each specimen. On the other hand,
variance was extremely different than both deviation and average for each specimen used.
2. Does the hardness which you found agree with the properties which may be found in a book?
Yes, the empirical hardness values agree with the properties found in a reference book for
materials
3. Why cannot indentations be very close to one another?
If those indentations were placed close to the edge of this sheet metal the Rockwell
hardness number of the same metal will decrease consequently, thus getting an inaccurate
reading.
4. What is the effect if the surface is not horizontal and smooth?
When the surface is not clean and not placed correctly, mistakes could occur when doing
the experiment; more so, it will also provide inaccurate readings for the hardness number of the
material. Unlike from the Brinell and Vickers Hardness Test, the Rockwell method suffers this
effect greatly when the support anvil has many obstructions or if the surface is rough and
unclean.
5. Why should different indenter be used for different materials?
The indenter should depend on how soft or hard the specimen or material is for the
experiment. For example, soft materials require 1/16 inch to be tested.