Petroleum Engineering Design

PTE 470

Department of Petroleum Engineering

Zisis Vryzas

Assistant Professor

3- Hardness
 Hardness

Hardness is a measure of the material’s

resistance to localized plastic
deformation
• Good hardness generally means material
is resistant to scratching and wear
• Most tooling used in manufacturing must
be hard for scratch and wear resistance
Hardness Scale
 Hardness Tests

• Commonly used for assessing material

properties because they are quick and
convenient
• Variety of testing methods are appropriate due
to differences in hardness among different
materials
• Most well-known hardness tests are Brinell and
Rockwell
• Other test methods are also available, such as
Vickers and Knoop
 Hardness Tests
Hardness tests are performed more frequently
than any other mechanical test for several
reasons:
1. They are simple and inexpensive—ordinarily no
special specimen need be prepared, and the
testing apparatus is relatively inexpensive.
2. The test is nondestructive—the specimen is
neither fractured nor excessively deformed; a
small indentation is the only deformation.
3. Other mechanical properties often may be
estimated from hardness data, such as tensile
strength
 Brinell Hardness Test
• Widely used for testing
metals and nonmetals of
low to medium hardness

• A hard ball is pressed

into specimen surface
with a load of 500, 1500,
or 3000 kg

• Cannot be used for thin

materials.

• Ball may deform on very

hard materials

• Surface area of
indentation is measured.
 Brinell Hardness Number (BHN)

• Load divided into indentation area =

Brinell Hardness Number (BHN)
2F
HB 
Db (Db  Db2  Di2 )

where HB = Brinell Hardness Number (BHN), F = indentation

load, kg; Db = diameter of ball, mm, and Di = diameter of
indentation, mm
 Brinell Hardness Test
Strengths
1. One scale covers the entire hardness range, although
comparable results can only be obtained if the ball size
and test force relationship is the same.
2. A wide range of test forces and ball sizes to suit every
application.
3. “Nondestructive”, sample can normally be reused.

Weaknesses
1. The main drawback of the Brinell test is the need to
optically measure the indent size. This requires that the
test point be finished well enough to make an accurate
measurement.
2. Slow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJXJpeH78iU
 Rockwell Hardness Test

• Another widely used test

• A cone shaped indenter is pressed into
specimen using a minor load of 10 kg,
thus seating indenter in material
• Then, a major load of 150 kg is applied,
causing indenter to penetrate beyond
its initial position
• Additional penetration distance d is
converted into a Rockwell hardness
reading by the testing machine
 Rockwell Hardness Test
• (1) initial minor load
and (2) major load.

• Rockwell B (ball)
used for soft
materials.

• Rockwell C (cone)
uses diamond cone
for hard materials.

• Flexible, quick and

easy to use.

• Very precise for

homogeneous metals
 Rockwell Hardness Test
• On the basis of the magnitude of both major
and minor loads, there are two types of tests:
Rockwell and superficial Rockwell.
• For Rockwell, the minor load is 10 kg, whereas
major loads are 60, 100, and 150 kg. Each scale
is represented by a letter of the alphabet.
• For superficial tests, 3 kg is the minor load; 15,
30, and 45 kg are the possible major load
values. These scales are identified by a 15, 30,
or 45 (according to load), followed by N, T, W,
X, or Y, depending on indenter.
Rockwell Hardness Test

When specifying Rockwell and

superficial hardnesses, both
hardness number and scale
symbol must be indicated. The
scale is designated by the
symbol HR followed by the
appropriate scale identification.
For example, 80 HRB represents
a Rockwell hardness of 80 on the
B scale, and 60 HR30W indicates
a superficial hardness of 60 on
the 30W scale.
 Rockwell Hardness Test

• Formula:
Rockwell Hardness HRC=(0.2-depth of
indentation) * 500

The modern apparatus for making

Rockwell hardness measurements is
automated and very simple to use;
hardness is read directly, and each
measurement requires only a few
seconds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2JGNlIvNC4
 Micro-Hardness Test
• Micro-hardness is measured by indentation
using a diamond indenter under a known load for
a specific time.
• Micro-hardness is used to determine hardness
changes in a non-homogeneous material.
• The most common tests are:
– Vickers (HV)- an alternative to Brinell, a number
obtained by dividing the force (kgf) by the area of
indentation (mm). Measures length of diagonal on
indentation. Usually used on very hard materials.
– Knoop (HK)- usually used for very brittle materials
or thin sheets where only a small indentation may
be made.
 Micro-Hardness Test

Knoop (HK): Elongated

diamond indenter
Vicker (HV): Square
diamond indenter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z90OZ7C2jI
 Hardness Conversion
• Hardness conversion data have been determined experimentally and
found to be dependent on material type and characteristics. The most
reliable conversion data exist for steels, some of which are presented
in the figure below:
 Hardness Conversion
• Most hardness scales can be converted into another scale by using
tables found in ASTM standard E 140 “Standard Hardness Conversion
Tables for Metals.”
 Correlation between Hardness and Tensile
Strength

• Both tensile strength and hardness are indicators of

a metal’s resistance to plastic deformation.
• As a rule of thumb for most steels, the HB and the
tensile strength are related according to:
 Impact Tests

• Toughness of metals is the ability to

withstand impact.
 Izod test

• Strikes at 167 Joules.

• Test specimen is held

vertically.

• Notch faces striker.

 Charpy impact test
• Strikes form higher position
with 300 Joules.

• Test specimen is held

horizontally.

• The specimen is broken by

the impact of a heavy
pendulum hammer; falling
through a fixed distance ha;
strikes the specimen; swing
height measured hb ; The
difference between ha and hb
determines energy
absorption.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpGhqQvftAo
Questions?