LAB: 08

TO DETERMINE BRINELL HARDNESS NUMBER OF DIFFERENT

SPEIMEN.

OBJECTIVE:
 To find Hardness number of different specimen.
 To examine deformation of metal specimen when hardened steel specimen is pressed into it
under different normal loads.
 To use the indentations to determine the properties of a metal.

INTRODUCTION:

The Brinell hardness test is a simple, quick and non destructive test that can be performed:

 On a small piece of material that’s too small to machine a tensile/compressive test specimen
out of it.
 On a piece of metal that’s needed to be preserved for future use.
 When there is no time to prepare for tensile/compressive test.

Therefore, in this experiment report on INDENTATION OF A METAL BY A BALL, we use a steel ball,
following the standard procedure for performance of Brinell hardness test to determine some
mechanical properties of two metal specimens i.e. steel and aluminium.

THEORY:
Hardness is the property of a material (metal) by virtue of its ability to resist abrasion, indentation
(or penetration) And scratching by harder bodies. It is the resistance of a material to permanent
deformation of the surface. In other words, one can define it as the resistance of the metal to
penetration by an indenter. The hardness Of a surface of the material is, of course, a direct result of
inter-atomic forces acting on the surface of the Material. We must note that hardness is not a
fundamental property of a material, however, but rather a combined effect of compressive, elastic
and plastic properties relative to the mode of penetration, shape of penetrator, etc. Hardness seems
to bear a fairly constant relationship to the tensile strength of a given material and thus it can be
used as a practical non-destructive test for an approximate idea of the value of that property and the
state of the metal near the surface. All hardness tests are made on the surface or close to it. We may
note that in mechanical tests the bulk of material is involved. Sometimes, hardness is expressed in
terms of macro-hardness and micro-hardness. The macro hardness of material relates to its
resistance to larger volume displacements in plastic deformation, whereas micro hardness is the
hardness of the materials in microscopically small volumes e.g. in grain boundaries. Hardness of
materials is of importance for dies and punches, limit gauges, cutting tools, bearing surfaces etc.
Softness of a material is opposite extreme of hardness. On heating all materials become soft. Brinell
hardness number is the hardness index, calculated by pressing a hardened steel ball (indenter) into
test specimen under standardized load. Brinell hardness tests are used to determine hardness of
metallic materials, to check quality level of products, for uniformity of samples of metals, for
uniformity of results of heat treatment.

The Brinell Hardness Number (BHN) is obtained by dividing the applied force by the spherical
surface area of the indentation, i.e.
APPARATUS AND EXPERIMENT SETUP:

PROCEDURE:
(i) We placed the test sample on the top of the test table and raised it with the elevating screw, till
the test sample just touched the ball. (ii) We applied the desired load, starting with 250 kg
equivalent load. (iii) The steel ball during this period moved to the position of the sample and made
an indentation. (iv) We measured the indentation diameter at two places, by coinciding the two
points of a reading microscope (Fig. (c)). (v)We changed the load by 250 kg equivalent increment and
repositioned the specimen according to the specifications in the theory. We repeated this until we
reached a load equivalent to 3000kg.
 This procedure was repeated by group A1, in testing the hardness of an aluminum specimen. The
two groups then discussed and shared the results.

TABLE AND GRAPH:

RESULT:

We deduce from these results that the Brinell hardness number for both steel and aluminum is
approximately double the gradient of the respective curves. When load is equivalent to 3000kg and
using the steel ball of diameter 10mm.
However, the results are inconsistent over the other values of the loads. This is contrary to
expectations as it was expected that the results between the gradient and the Brinell hardness
number be constant in accordance with the theory which is proven by the fact that hardness of a
homogeneous material is uniform. The possible reasons behind the deviations are:

i. We did not vary the diameter of the indenting ball with respect to the variation in load
magnitude.
ii. Reading error of the diameter of indentation using the microscope.
iii. Use of a rough steel ball surface.
iv. Use of the steel ball on a steel specimen which is of the same hardness. This could have
caused indentation of the steel ball.
v. Use of rough specimen surface.

CONCLUTION:
We have examined the deformation of steel and aluminum when a hardened steel ball was pressed
into the metal specimens. From the examinations we have determined that to get the correct
indentations that should give us the specific properties of the metal specimen we must vary the load
with the diameter of the indenting ball as demonstrated below:

 Steel and cast iron (P/D2 ) = 30.

 Copper and Aluminum alloys (P/D2 ) = 10
 Copper and aluminum (P/D2 ) = 5
 Lead, Tin and alloys (P/D2 ) = 1

COMMENTS:
We have learned so much from tis teacher in one class.