tafila technical university

Faculty engineering


Experiment #3
Hardness

Name: Salam Fayez Albaradie.

Lecturer name: Eng. Mohannad Tamimi .

Date of submission: 24/3/2014.

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1. Objective

1. To analysis the hardness number of the material.
2. To test the resistance of the material towards an impact load.
3. To develop an understanding of suitable scale for hardness test specimens.

2. Introduction
2.1. Hardness
The Hardness Test is a measurement of the resistance of the material to indentation,
which indicates its strength. The indenter can be either rounded or pointed and is made of
a material much harder than the test piece, for example hardened steel and diamond.
There are 3 methods to test the hardness of the materials:

Vickers Hardness Test
Two techniques to test the hardness of a material are Knoop Test (called nup) and
Vickers Test (also known as diamond pyramid). For each test, small diamond with
pyramid geometry is used to indent the material surface.
The force used is much lighter than the force used in Rockwell and Brinell test.
The preparation of the specimen must be correct, to insure the measurement of the
indent is exact.
Knop and Vickers Hardness Number are fixed which is HK and HV and the scale of
both techniques are almost alike.
Both techniques refer to the micro hardness methods based on the force and the
measurement of the indent.
Both are suitable to measure small value hardness of the selected specimen,
especially Knoop, which is used to measure brittle materials such as ceramic.


Brunel Hardness Test
Brinell test uses the force of a sphere shaped indenter on the specimen surface,
just like the Rockwell Test.
To test the hardness of a steel (or carbide tungsten), the diameter of the
indentation used is 10.00mm(0.394 in.).
Harder material requires more force.
Brinell Hardness Number, HB serves as both function, as the diameter and the
magnitude, which is the final result of an indentation.
The force for each magnitude produced with the standard force between 500 and
3000 kg where the incensement of 500 kg in the test, follows a specified time
(between 10 and 30 seconds).

Rockwell Hardness Test
The most routinely used technique to measure the hardness of a material because
of its simplicity and doesnt require specific skills.
A few scales can be used from few possibility different techniques that are used
widely for many types of steel and alloy, from the soft materials to a more hard
material.
The Rockwell scale is known as HR, and its followed by a suitable identity.
Example, 80HRB refers to the B scale of the Rockwell Hardness with the value of
80 and 60HR30W refers to the Rockwell Hardness of the value of 60 in the 30W
scale.

2.2. Brinell Hardness Test

The Brinell test was devised by a Swedish researcher at the beginning of the 20th century.
The test comprises forcing a hardened steel ball inventor into the surface of the sample using
a standard load as shown in Fig.1(a). The diameter/load ratio is selected to provide an
impression of an acceptable diameter. The ball may be 1,5 or 10 mm in diameter, the load
may be 30, 750 or 3000 kgf, The load, P, is related to the diameter, D by the relationship
P/D2 and this ratio has been standardized for different metals in order that test results are
accurate and reproducible. For steel the ratio is 30:1 - for example a 10mm ball can be used
with a 3000kgf load or a 1mm ball with a 30kgf load. For aluminum alloys the ratio is 5:1.
The load is applied for a fixed length of time, usually 30 seconds. When the indenter is
retracted two diameters of the impression, d1 and d2 , are measured using a microscope with
a calibrated graticule and then averaged as shown in Fig.1(b).






Fig.1. Brinell hardness Test


The Brinell hardness number (BHN) is found by dividing the load by the surface area of the
impression. There is a somewhat tedious calculation that can be carried out to determine the
hardness number but it is more usual and far simpler to refer to a set of standard tables from
which the Brinell hardness number can be read directly.

The Brinell test is generally used for bulk metal hardness measurements - the impression is
larger than that of the Vickers test and this is useful as it averages out any local heterogeneity
and is affected less by surface roughness. However, because of the large ball diameter the
test cannot be used to determine the hardness variations in a welded joint for which the
Vickers test is preferred. Very hard metals, over 450BHN may also cause the ball to deform
resulting in an inaccurate reading. To overcome this limitation a tungsten carbide ball is used
instead of the hardened steel ball but there is also a hardness limit of 600BHN with this
indenter.



3. Equipment and Experimental procedure

3.1. Equipment

1. Material use is mild steel.
2. Brinell hardness machine.



Fig.2. brinell hardness machine



3. A readout microscope



Fig.3. A readout microscope
4. Loads




Fig.4. loads

3.2. Experimental procedure

The Brinell hardness test method consists of indenting the test material with a 5mm diameter
Hardened steel or carbide ball subjected to a load of 7350N (750 kg)

1. An indenter is chosen and placed into the hole of main rod according to the requirement
Of the test.

2. A test force is chosen according to the requirement of the test.

3. The control handle is pulled to apply the load slowly. And maintain to 10-15 sec.

4. The control handle is pushed backward to remove the load.

5. The test piece is remover after lowering the anvil.

6. A readout microscope is used to measure the diameter of the indentation d.

The Brinell hardness number is determined by the equation (1).

F = applied force (kg)
D = diameter of indenter (mm)
d = diameter of indentation (mm)















4. Result and discussion

4.1. Calculation the HB using:

1. The HB equation

)


2. The table

Table 1.HB brinell hardness number according the diameter of indenter and the diameter of
indentation.
Diameter of the indentation (mm)

HB
3.8 255
3.84 243.79
3.9 223

According to the table the diameter of indenter is 5mm and the relation is

the diameter
of the indentation is 1.92 mm why multiply by 2 according to relation so it 3.84 and by using
interpolation we get HB equal to 243.79 .



4.2. Force determination

4.3. Discussion

Advantages of Brinell test method :

1. Suitable for hardness tests even under rough workshop conditions.
2. Suitable for hardness tests on inhomogeneous materials.
3. Simple test procedure and cheap penetration element.

Disadvantages of Brinell test method:

1. Restriction of application range to a maximum Brienll hardness of 650 HBW.
2. Restriction when testing small and thin-walled specimens.
3. Restriction when testing round specimen if diameter is smaller then 1,5 x penetrator
diameter.
4. Relatively serious damage to the specimen due to the large test indentation.

5. References

1. ASTM E10 -08 Standard Test Method for Brinell Hardness of Metallic Materials
2. ISO 6506-1:2005 Metallic materials -Brinell hardness test -Part 1 :Test method
3. http//:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brinell_hardness_test
4. http//:www.scribd.com/doc/18004150/Hardness-Report
5. National Institute of Standards and Technology