Material Test

Dr. Amr Hanafy

Lecture One
Mechanical Properties
Hardness Tests
 Background
Hardness definition
It is resistance of a material to plastic indentation,
scratching, surface penetration, or wear.
•These properties are all related to the resistance against
plastic flow (permanent deformation) in the material.

•hardness for steel and copper alloys can be used as a

rough guide to estimate tensile strength.

•In general, the harder the material, the better the

resistance, and thus the smaller the indentation.

•There are three types of hardness test

1- Brinell Hardness Testing
• Brinell test is performed by pressing a hardened steel
ball, 10 mm in diameter, into the flat surface of a
sample under a constant load.
• The load is usually, for steel and hard metals 3000
kg held for 10 to 15 s and for soft non-ferrous metals
500 kg held for about 30 s .
• The Brinell hardness number (HB or BH number) is
determined by dividing the load by the surface area
of the circular indentation seen on the surface
according to the formula:
where P is the applied load in kg, D is the diameter
of the indenter ball in mm, d is the mean diameter
in mm of the indentation, and HB is in kg/mm 2. The
mean diameter of the indentation (two readings at
right angles to each other) is measured using a
microscope.
•For Brinell hardness test the sample
should be flat and securely supported.
•The sample should be thick enough so
that no bulge appears on the opposite
(bottom) face during indentation.
•To ensure accurate results, indentations
should not be made too close to the edge
of the test piece.
•Indentations should not be made too close to one
another.
•Lack of supporting material from one
side of the test piece may result in larger
and unsymmetrical indentations.
Procedure for Brinell hardness test:
1. Place the specimen on the anvil with its surface
normal to the direction of applied load.
2. Place the correct weights (two for 3000 kg and only
the small one for 500 kg) on the yoke.
3. Turn the large side hand wheel in counterclockwise
direction until it stops. Hold it in place with right hand.
4. Using left hand, raise the anvil with the capstan hand
wheel turning in clockwise direction until the specimen
just makes contact with the ball indenter. See that the
ball is at least 5 mm from the edges of the specimen or
existing indentations.
5. Apply load by slowly turning the side hand wheel
clockwise until the yoke and weights rise and float for
15 s (under 3000 kg weight) or 30 s (under 500 kg
weight).
6. Release the load gradually with the side hand wheel
slowly. Make sure this is done gently to avoid dynamic
load from rapid descend of the weights and the holder.
7. Lower the specimen by turning the capstan hand
wheel counter-clockwise until it clears the indenter.
8. Measure the diameter of the indentation to the
nearest 0.1 mm using a microscope.
9. Calculate the Brinell hardness numbers using
Equation (1) with measured parameters in correct
units.
2-Rockwell hardness test differs from Brinell hardness
test in that
• the hardness is determined from the depth of
indentation made by the indenter under a constant
load.
• diamond indenter and steel-ball indenters of
diameter 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, or 1/2 in.
• In the test the indenter is pressed into the specimen
surface under an initial minor (light) load followed
by a major (heavy) load.
• The additional depth of indentation made by the
indenter under the major load beyond that by the
minor load is measured and converted to a
hardness number (see Table 1).
• There are two basic types of Rockwell hardness
tests: B and C.
• In both Rockwell hardness tests, the minor load is
always 10 kg while the major load can be 60, 100,
or 150 kg.
• A hardness number is suffixed by first the letter
H (for hardness), then the letter R (for Rockwell),
and finally the letter that indicates the scale used.
For example, a value of 45 on the Rockwell C
scale is expressed as 45 HRC.
• HRC = (0.2-e) 500; where e = the depth of
indentation
3-Vickers and Knoop macrohardness indenters.
• Diamond pyramid are used
• The indenter is pressed under a constant load into
the material, the load removed,
• The load used is ranged from 5 Kg to 60 kg
• The Vickers indenter generates a square impression
while Knoop indenter creates an elongated
impression.
• the size of the indentation measured, and the
hardness number calculated by dividing the load by
the surface area of indentation.
• VHN = 2Psin(/2)/d2 = 1.854P/d2
P = load Kg, d = mean length of impression diagonals
Microhardness Testing

• The term microhardness is generally referring

to the size of indentation.
• In the test, a minute indenter and small
constant loads (no more than 1000 g) are
usually employed.
• Dimensions of the indentation and the load are
both used in the determination of the hardness
number.
Vickers Microhardness Testing
• The Vickers microhardness indenter is made of
diamond in the form of a square-base pyramid
having an angle of 136° between faces as shown in
Figure.
• The indenter should be applied under a
predetermined constant load for 10 to 15 s.
• The diagonals of the square indentation are
measured using the microscope and a mean value is
calculated.
• The Vickers hardness number (VHN) is then
calculated according to the formula:
VHN = 2Psin(/2)/d2 = 1854.4P/d2 = 1844.4 P/d2
where P is the applied load in grams (g),  is the
indenter face angle of 136°, and d is the mean
diagonal length in m. The constant 1854.4
incorporates the value of sin(/2) and other
conversion factors to give VHN a unit of
kg/mm2.
Example
Indentation hardness tests are made on a sample of
metal and the following results recorded
i) Using Vicker’s diamond test with 30 kg load
the mean lengths of diagonals were;- 1 st
impression = 0.527 mm, 2nd impression = 0.481
mm, 3rd impression = 0.497 mm;
ii) Using Brinell test with 10 mm ball and 3000
Kg load the diameter of impression was 4.01
Calculate the diamond and Brinell numbers for the
material and explain any variations in results.