Dental Implant

Experiment No. 8
Hardness

‫ محمد سعد‬.‫د‬

1
 OBJECT
The hardness test is a mechanical test for material properties which are used in engineering
design, analysis of structures, and materials development. The principal purpose of the hardness
test is to determine the suitability of a material for a given application, or the particular treatment
to which the material has been subjected. The ease with which the hardness test can be made has
made it the most common method of inspection for metals and alloys.

2
 INTRODUCTION
Hardness is defined as the resistance of a material to permanent deformation such as
indentation, wear, abrasion, scratch. Principally, the importance of hardness testing has to do
with the relationship between hardness and other properties of material. For example,
both the hardness test and the tensile test measure the resistance of a metal to plastic flow,
and results of these tests may closely parallel each other. The hardness test is preferred
because it is simple, easy, and relatively nondestructive. There are many hardness tests currently
in use. The neccessity for all these different hardness tests is due to the need for categorizing the
great range of hardness from soft rubber to hard ceramics.

3
4
‫مقي!اس م!وس ه‪5‬و مقي‪5‬اس لصالدة الم‪5‬واد يس‪5‬تخدم للدالل‪5‬ة على ق‪5‬درة الم‪5‬واد المختلف‪5‬ة على مقاوم‪5‬ة الخ‪5‬دش ويتم ذل‪5‬ك بفحص ق‪5‬درة م‪5‬ادة ص‪5‬لبة على خ‪5‬دش م‪5‬ادة أق‪ّ5‬ل ص‪5‬البة‬
‫منها‪ .‬وضع هذا المقياس عام م‪ 1812‬على يد عالم المعادن األلماني موس فريدرش‪.‬‬
‫ويعت‪5‬بر مقي‪5‬اس م‪5‬وس مقياًسا ترتيبًيا‪ ،‬أي أن‪5‬ه يعطي الم‪5‬واد ترتيًبا معين‪5‬ا في قائم‪5‬ة الم‪5‬واد وال يعطي القيم‪5‬ة المطلق‪5‬ة للص‪5‬البة‪ .‬فمث‪5‬ال ذل‪5‬ك األلماس ال‪5‬ذي يلي الكورندم حس‪5‬ب‬
‫مقياس موس مع أن صالبته تقارب أربع أضعاف صالبة الكورندم‪.‬‬

‫‪5‬‬
 THEORY
Current practice divides hardness testing into two categories: macrohardness and
microhardness. Macrohardness refers to testing with applied loads on the indenter of more than
1 kg and covers, for example, the testing of tools, dies, and sheet material in the heavier gages.
In microhardness testing, applied loads are 1 kg and below, and material being tested is very
thin (down to 0.0125 mm, or 0.0005 in.). Applications include extremely small parts, thin
superficially hardened parts, plated surfaces, and individual constituents of materials.
1) Macro Hardness Testers Loads > 1 kg
 Rockwell  Brinell  Vickers
2) Micro Hardness Testers < 1 kg
 Knoop diamond  Vickers diamond pyramid
6
 Brinell's hardness test
It is performed by pressing a steel ball into the test piece as shown in the Fig. (1) , the mean
diameter of the indentation left on the surface of the specimen after the removal of the lead is
measured. Now the value of hardness is mathematically found from the relation:

where:
B.H.N (i.e. Brinell Hardness Number)
P= load applied in (Kg f).
D= diameter of the steel ball in (mm).
d= diameter of the steel indentation in (mm).
7
Brinell's hardness test

8
 Brinell's hardness test
The Brinell's hardness test is mostly used for determining the hardness of metallic materials.
This test is not recommended for material having B. H. N. above 630 and also for very thin
specimens. Moreover, it is a time consuming test and requires expensive equipment. As the
test leaves a large impression on the specimen, therefore it can't be adopted in the
industry.

9
10
 Rockwell's hardness test

It is generally performed when quick and direct reading is desirable. This is also performed
when the materials have hardness, beyond the range of Brinall test the loads for making indent
are smaller, and thus make smaller and shallower indents. It is because of these reasons industry.
In this test a standard indenter either of 1.58 mm diameter loaded with 100 Kg for a cone
indenter with 120o cones and 150 Kg f is employed the test has three scales of hardness (A to C).
The ball indenters are generally made of hardness tool steel or tungsten carbide. During the test,
the specimen is placed on the anvil, and is raised till it becomes in constant with the indentor a
minor load of 10 kg f is applied on the specimen and the small pointer indicates (set).

11
The depth of indentation in mm, read from small pointer, and the Rockwell number is obtained,
mathematically from the relation.
Rockwell B number

12
we most note:
1- The indenter and anvil should be clean and well placed.
2- The surface of the specimen should be flat, clean, dry, smooth and should be placed
perpendicular to the indenters.
3- The thickness of the specimen should be more than 10 to 15 time the depth of indentation.
If the specimen is curved in shape, than the indent should be made of the concave side.
4- The test should be carried out preferably a temperature of (27 o + 2 Co).

13
14
15
 Vickers Hardness test
It is the most accurate test, which has a fairly continuous scale of hardness (Vickers hardness
number of 5 to 1500).
The test makes the use of a diamond square based pyramid indenter with 136 o angle between
the opposite faces. The load range is variable from (5 to 120 Kgf) in steps of (5 Kgf).
A piston & a dashpot of oil are used for controlling the rate & duration of the loading.
The test is performed by placing the specimen on the arivil & raised till it is close to the
indenter point. The load is then gradually applied to the indenter & then removed. The
diagonal of the square indentation is measured to (0.001 mm) length now the (V.H.N) is
obtained, mathematically, from the relation.

16
Where :-
P = Load applied in Kgf
A = Surface area of indentation in square mm.
L = Length of the diagonal in mm.
θ= Angle between opposite face of diamond.
This test is very suitable for testing polished and hardness material or nitrided surface due to
small impression made on the test specimen. This test is accurate and is suitable for metals as
thin as 0.15 mm.
In spite of these advantages, the Vickers hardness test is not widely adopted because of its
being slow. 17
 Knoop's Hardness
It is suitable for extremely thin metal plates exceptionally hard & brittle, very shallow
carburized or hitrided surface. This test in also performed whenever the applied load is kept
below 3-6 kgf.
In this test, a diamond pyramidal indenter with short depth diagonals in the ratio of 7:1 is used to
indent on the specimen the length of the diagonal is read under microscope, now the knoop's
hardness number is obtained, mathematically, from the relation:

18
Discussion:
1. Discuss the relationship between the hardness and types of metals.
2. Discuss the factors that effects on hardness.
3. Discuss the errors in the experiment.
4. Discuss the relationship between the hardness and types of mechanical properties

19
20

Thank you for listening