MECHANICAL TESTING OF METALLIC

MATERIALS
 Outline

• Hardness Testing
• Tensile Testing
• Impact Testing
• Fatigue Testing
• Creep Testing
• Wear Testing

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MATERIALS PROPERTIES

Design Engineer - Materials properties

Materials Properties

CHEMICAL MECHANICAL PHYSICAL DIMENSIONAL

Composition Hardness Density Size
Crystal structure Strength-ductility Thermal Shape
Bonding Impact Electrical Microtography
Fatigue Magnetic
Creep
wear

SERVICE LIFE

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LT/HT/RT
 HARDNESS TESING

• Hardness is resistance of material to plastic

deformation caused by indentation
Deeper or larger
impression

Softer materials

most brasses easy to machine cutting nitrided

plastics Al alloys steels file hard tools steels diamond

22-Jan-11 increasing hardness

11111 4
 HARDNESS

Tribologist : – high hardness desirable to reduce plastic

deformation and wear in bearings

Machinist : - low hardness preferable for easy and

faster machining

Fracture mechanics : – hard material – brittle –

engineer undesirable under impact loads

Metal forming : – low hardness preferable for

engineer cold rolling
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 BASIC PRINCIPLE

• Principle of hardness test method :

- forcing an indenter into the sample surface

followed by
measuring dimensions of the indentation
(depth or actual surface area of the indentation)

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TYPES OF HARDNESS MEASUREMENTS
There are three general types of hardness measurements
1) Scratch hardness
• The ability of material to scratch on one another
• Important to mineralogists, using Mohs’scale 1= talc, 10 = diamond
• Not suited for metal annealed copper = 3, martensite = 7.

2) Indentation hardness
• Major important engineering interest for metals.
• Different types : Brinell, Meyer, Vickers, Rockwell
hardness tests.

3) Rebound or dynamic hardness

• The indentor is dropped onto the metal surface and the
hardness is expressed as the energy of impact
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CLASSIFICATION HARDNESS TESING

-Depending on the loading force value & the indentation dimensions

• Macro-hardness tests

• Micro-hardness tests

• Nano-hardness test

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HARDNESS TESING

Macro-hardness tests :
- the most widely used methods for rapid routine
hardness measurements

- indenting forces in macro-hardness tests are in the

range of 50N to 30000N

• Brinell hardness test

• Rockwell hardness test

• Vickers hardness test

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BRINELL HARDNESS TEST

- One of the oldest tests

Static test that involves pressing a hardened steel
ball (10mm) into a test specimen while under a load of

3000 kg load for hard metals,

1500 kg load for intermediate hardness metals
500 kg load for soft materials
BALL PRESSED
INTO THE
SURFACE

INDENTATION
PRODUCED IN
22-Jan-11 SURFACE 11111 10
BRINELL HARDNESS TEST

If the BHN value is

higher, then the
material is said to be
harder

where
BHN = the Brinell hardness number
P = the imposed load in kg
D = the diameter of the spherical indenter in mm
d = diameter of the resulting
22-Jan-11 11111indenter impression in mm11
BRINELL HARDNESS TEST

• Rules of thumb
– 3000 kg load should be used for a BHN of 150 and above

– 1500 kg load should be used for a BHN between 75 and 300

– 500 kg load should be used for a BHN less than 100

– The material’s thickness should not be less than 10 times the

depth of the indentation

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 BRINELL HARDNESS TEST

• Brinell Test can not be used :

very soft or very hard materials
(Indentation becomes equal to the diameter of the
ball or
No or little Indentation)

Accurate measurement :
-impression should be a diameter
between 0.25D and 0.50D

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 BRINELL HARDNESS TEST

• Limitation of Brinell Hardness Test :

Materials with hardness upto 450HBN with steel ball

Materials with hardness upto 600 HBN with tungsten

carbide ball
– Brinell numbers greater than 650 should not be trusted because the
diameter of the indentation is too small to be measured accurately
and the ball penetrator may flatten out.

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 Brinell Test Method

• Advantages
– Well known throughout industry with well accepted results
– Tests are run quickly (within 2 minutes)
– Test inexpensive to run once the machine is purchased
– Insensitive to imperfections (hard spot or crater) in the material

• Limitations
– Not well adapted for very hard materials, wherein the ball deforms
excessively
– Not well adapted for thin pieces
– Not well adapted for case-hardened materials
Heavy and more expensive than11111
– 22-Jan-11 other tests 15
ROCKWELL HARDNESS TESTING

Rockwell Hardness Test : - widely used method

(accuracy, simplicity and rapidity)
-there are two types of Rockwell tests

(i) Rockwell: - the minor load is 10 kgf,

the major load is 60, 100, or 150 kgf.

(ii) Superficial Rockwell: -the minor load is 3 kgf and

major loads are 15, 30, or 45 kgf.

In both tests, the indenter may be either a diamond cone or

steel ball, depending upon the characteristics of the
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material being tested.
 ROCKWELL HARDNESS TESTING (ASTM18)
Principal of the Rockwell Test
1. The indenter moves down into
position on the part surface

2. A minor load is applied and a

zero reference position is
established (10kg)
3. The major load is applied for a specified time period (dwell time)
beyond zero
4. The major load is released leaving the minor load applied

- The Rockwell number represents the difference in depth from the

zero reference position as a result of the applied major load.
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Deeper indentation Softer material
ROCKWELL HARDNESS TESTING

Rockwell Indenters:

hardened steel ball

Diamond cone or

Rockwell hardness numbers are always quoted with a scale symbol

representing the indenter and forces used.
The hardness number is followed by the symbol HR and
the scale designation.
Ex; 64 HRC= Rockwell hardness number of 64 on Rockwell C scale.

81 HR30N
22-Jan-11 = Rockwell superficial hardness number of 81 on
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Rockwell 30N scale.
Superficial hardness test : Initial force : 29.4 N

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 ROCKWELL HARDNESS SCALES

Superficial hardness test : Initial force : 10kg

Note: The diameter of the balls arise from standard sizes in inches, 1.588mm being
1/16in, 3.175mm being 1/8in, 6.350mm being
22-Jan-11 11111 1/4in, and 12.70mm being 1/2in 20
ROCKWELL SUPERFICIAL HARDNESS SCALES

Superficial hardness test : Initial force : 29.4 N

Note: N scales are used for materials that if thick enough would have been
tested on the C scale, the T scales for
22-Jan-11 11111those on the B scale 21