Determination of

Ball penetration
and Rockwell
hardness

Date: 30 April 2021

Course: Plastic and Processing I

Student name: Tran Hoang Thanh Truc

Teacher’s name: Dr. Katalin Czifrak
INTRODUCTION

Definitions:
- Hardness: is the solids’ resistance ability while in contact with a harder test
tool.
- Preloading force: is a force for elimination of elastic deformation and
surface inequality deformation.
- Static hardness measurement procedures: slow and pressurized, such
as Brinell, Vickers, Bullet and Rockwell
- Dynamic hardness measurement procedures: fast and shock-bearing,
such as Poldi and Shore methods.
- Ball penetration hardness (HB): is the hardness test based on the ratio of
the load applied to the ball hardness meter and the surface area of the impact.
𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑
𝐵𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑃𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐻𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 =
𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑡

- Rockwell Hardness (HR): is a hardness determining technique relies on

the depth of plastic penetration. The higher the Rockwell hardness, the harder
the material, no unit of measure.
- K597: is an impact copolymer polypropylene with high ethylene content. To
be specific, this is a propylene homopolymer containing a co-mixed propylene
random copolymer phases which has an ethylene content of 45-65%.
- R959A: is a reactor grade random copolymer polypropylene. Properties:
flexible, brittle, excellently transparent
- H116: is a high melt flow homopolymer polypropylene.

Task description:
HB:
- Specimen’s thickness: ≥4mm
- Steel ball’s diameter: 5mm
- Preloading force: 9.8N & Main load: 132N
- Recording time: after 30 seconds
- Expectations: depth of impression has to be followed by a micrometer accuracy
meter and adjusted in 0.15 - 0.35mm range, hole to hole is ≥10mm separate
HR:
- Steel ball’s diameter: 12.7mm
- Preloading force: 98N & Main load: 490N
- Recording time: after 15 seconds
- Hole to hole is ≥10mm separate

Result summary:
The hardness result is described by the following trend: homopolymer (H116)
> Random copolymer (R959A) > Impact copolymer (K597).
DATA ANALYSIS

Ball Penetration Hardness:

HB
Sample h measured (mm) h average (mm)
(N/mm2)
K597 0.33 0.26 0.27 0.26 0.3 0.284 28.92967
H116 0.24 0.19 0.24 0.18 0.22 0.214 40.56805
R959A 0.25 0.21 0.22 0.22 0.22 0.224 38.36326

𝟏 𝑭 ×𝜶
Equation: 𝑯𝑩 = 𝝅×𝒅×𝒉 × (𝒉−𝒉
𝒎
, Where: hr=0.25
𝒓 𝒓 )+𝜶
α=0.21
h=ball penetration measured (mm)
d=diameter of the ball (5mm)
Fm=main load applied (132N)

Rockwell Hardness:

h average Lit.
Sample h measured (mm) HRR
(mm) data
K597 0.15 0.15 0.12 0.12 0.12 0.132 64 59
H116 0.14 0.12 0.16 0.11 0.14 0.134 63 99
R959A 0.1 0.08 0.08 0.08 0.08 0.084 88 78

𝒉
Equation: 𝑯𝑹𝑹 = 𝟏𝟑𝟎 − 𝒆 = 𝟏𝟑𝟎 − 𝟎.𝟎𝟎𝟐 (𝒎𝒎)

Where: e=depth of impression after removal of main load in 0.002 mm units

h=measured impression in mm

3
DISCUSSION
About the plastic samples: reason for the hardest behavior of homopolymer
lays on its regular and identical structure, which leads to higher density (0.904 –
0.908g/cm3) and better the strength-to-weight ratio. Although random copolymer
has the same density range, the structure composes of 2 type monomers cannot
withstand so well in the hardness test like the 1 monomer type. As the matter of
fact, impact copolymer with lowest density is the softest plastic in our study.

About the hardness tests: Ball penetrate hardness and Rockwell hardness
literature data correlate to each other, which is Homopolymer is the hardest and
Impact copolymer is the softest. However, our experimental data from Rockwell
shows a completely different trend. This is because the method is not always
accurate as even a slight error in measuring the depth difference can result in a
significant error in the calculated hardness value.

SIGNATURE
Tran Hoang Thanh Truc