Name: Yogi Shah RollNo: H088

SVKM’s NMIMS
Mukesh Patel School Technology Management and Engineering
Department Of Mechatronics
Strength of Materials Lab
Subject: Strength of Materials

Experiment No. 4 Date:20-01-2021

Rockwell Hardness Test

Aim: To find the Rockwell hardness number of mild steel, cast iron, brass, aluminum and spring
steel etc.

Apparatus: Rockwell Hardness testing machine, standard test specimens

Theory:
Hardness represents the resistance of material surface to abrasion, scratching and cutting,
hardness after gives clear indication of strength. In all hardness tests, a define force is
mechanically applied on the piece, varies in size and shape for different tests. Common indenters
are made of hardened steel or diamond. Rockwell hardness tester presents direct reading of
hardness number on a dial provided with the machine. Principally this testing is like Brinell
hardness testing. It differs only in diameter and material of the indenter and the applied force.
Although there are many scales having different combinations of load and size of indenter but
commonly 'C' scale is used, and hardness is presented as HRC. Here the indenter has a diamond
cone at the tip and applied force is of 150 kg.

Types of Rockwell Test:

Rockwell Test: In this minor load of 10kgf and major loads of 60, 100, 150kgf is applied.
Superficial Rockwell Test: In this minor load of 3kgf and major loads of 15, 30, 45kgf is
applied.

Specification of Hardness Testing M/C and Indenters:

Rockwell hardness testing machine essentially consist of a supporting table for

placing the specimen, a hand wheel to raise or lower the supporting table, a Rockwell ball
indenter which is a hardened steel ball 1/6'' in diameter, a Rockwell cone indenter which is a
diamond cone of 120°.
Apex angle: load stages adjustable by means of push button switches, a light signal to
indicate the application of minor load of 10kg, a clamping sleeve to hold the specimen firmly,
a button for applying the major load, hand lever to release the load and a dial gauge which
directly gives the Rockwell hardness number. The dial gauge has two set of graduation B and
C, corresponding to the ball type indenter and the cone type indenter.
Name: Yogi Shah RollNo: H088

Procedure:

1. First, we select the material with the given specification on the simulator
1) Cast Iron: Ball indentor
2) Mild Steel: Ball indentor
3) Spring Steel: Cone indentor
4) Brass: Ball indentor
5) Aluminum: Ball indentor
2. Place the specimen on the position on the testing machine and then the wheel
was rotated (using mouse) to adjust the specimen and a minor load of 10kg was
applied.
3. We then adjusted the point load and loaded the force and waited for 15-30 seconds .
4. We performed 3 trails for each type of material (cast iron, Mild steel, Spring Steel, Brass,
Aluminum).
5. The steps 1-3 were repeated for every trail of all the Materials.

Observation:

Fig 1:Observation table for Cast Iron

Name: Yogi Shah RollNo: H088

Fig 2: Observation table for Mild Steel

Fig 3: Observation table for Spring steel

Fig 4: Observation table for Brass

Name: Yogi Shah RollNo: H088

Fig 5: Observation table for Aluminum

Result:
We were able to successfully perform the experiment of the Rockwell Hardness test
where we tested the cast iron, Mild steel, Spring Steel, Brass and Aluminum material and
calculated the Rockwell Hardness Number after averaging 2 trails for each specimen.