GE Aircraft Engines

Tuesday AM

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 GE Aircraft Engines

Hardness
Testing

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 GE Aircraft Engines

Hardness Testing ASTM E-18 Macro hardness

ASTM E-384 Micro Hardness
GEAE E50TF65
Specification

Metcut
training manual
Information
flowdown
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 GE Aircraft Engines

Hardness

Measurement of a material’s ability to resist

penetration of a harder object under rigidly
controlled conditions

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 GE Aircraft Engines

Hardness Testing
• Scratch test
-Hoffman Scratch

• Static indentation test

-Macro Hardness Test
- Rockwell
- Superficial - Coatings
- Brinell
-Micro Hardness Test
- Vickers
- Knoop

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 GE Aircraft Engines

Hardness Testing (Continued)

• High/low temperature hardcoats

-Tungsten Carbides
-Chrome Carbides
-Triballoys

• Abradables coatings
-Nickel Graphites
-Aluminum - Si Polyester

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 GE Aircraft Engines

Hardness Testing
Value of hardness:
Initial way of determining the integrity of a coating
1. Coating Density
Can change values
High values - possible higher carbide dispersion
Lower values - possible lower carbide dispersion
Excessive / non-uniform distribution of porosity
2. Dispersion of hard particles
(i.e. Tungsten Carbides)
Effects of sample preparation
1. Poor prep = lower values
2. Good prep = true values
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 GE Aircraft Engines

Hardness Testing
Examples of poor macrohardness sample
preparation.

1. Poor prep = lower values

* Tack weld not completely removed
* Smeared Metal on the surface

2. Good prep = true values

* Tack weld completely removed.
* Level surface.
* Properly ground surface.

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 GE Aircraft Engines

Hardness Testing
Specimen Preparation • Hoffman scratch
- #80 grit paper
- Light hand pressure
- Remove .005” material
- Within .02” flatness
- Apply Talcum Powder
Abrasive - White Developer for Contrast
surface
• Superficial hardness
- #120-320 grit paper
- Light hand pressure
- 15Y - .005” material removal
- 15N - .001” minimum material
Firm wrist removal
and fingers
- Flatness within .002-.005”

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 GE Aircraft Engines

Hoffman Scratch Test

• Coupon size - 3”x6”x.09” (minimum)
• Coating thickness - .040” minimum
• Methods - pocket comparator with reticle or
comparator with surface illumination.
• Use Talcum Powder for Contrast or White Developer
• Three (3) Scratches per panel.
• Each scratch, 3 readings approximately 0.5” apart
• Record the nine readings and average them
• Report this average or value as the average
Hoffman hardness number
• Avoid reading scratches at localized discontinuities,
as digs and skips 10
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 GE Aircraft Engines

Hoffman Scratch - Hardness Test

Direction of travel

Counter
Large rider weight
Beam

Set at “20”

Scratching tool
Test panel

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 GE Aircraft Engines

Hoffman Scratch test (Continued) Scratches Width

1 2 3

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 GE Aircraft Engines

Macro Hardness Testing

Schematic of Rockwell Testing Machine

Dial gage

Indenter
Weights
Anvil
or loading
device

Crank handle

Dashpot Reset inotor

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 GE Aircraft Engines

Preparing Buttons for Macro Hardness (Rockwell Superficial)

Proper Size of
Specimen
Remove metal tabs

Remove tack welds

Carefully Hand grind off tack welds using 240 Grit paper
Don t over grind
Keep the back parallel with the front or (coated side).
Check for flatness
Place button on flat anvil to achieve accurate hardness
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 Central Laboratory GE Aircraft Engines

Typical applications of Rockwell test scales

Rockwell test scales - standard tester
Scale Applications
A Cemented carbides, thin steels, shallow Dial
case-hardened steels. Only scale that is Scale Load gauge
continuous over a wide range of Symbol Penetrator kg scale
material harnesses A Brale 60 Black
B Aluminum, copper, soft steels, and B 1/16-in ball 100 Red
malleable iron C Brale 150 black
C Steels with hardness above 100 HRB, D Brale 100 Black
hard irons, deep-case hardened steels, E 1/8-in ball 100 Red
titanium, etc F 1/16-in ball 60 Red
D Thin steels, medium case-hardened steels, G 1/16-in ball 150 Red
and pearlitic malleable iron H 1/8-in ball 60 Red
E Cast iron, aluminum, magnesium, and K 1/8-in ball 150 Red
bearing metals L 1/4-in ball 60 Red
F Annealed coppers and thin, soft sheet metal M 1/4-in ball 100 Red
G Phosphor bronze, beryllium copper, and P 1/4-in ball 150 Red
malleable irons (materials less than 92 HRG R 1/2-in ball 60 Red
to prevent flattening of the ball) S 1/2-in ball 100 Red
H Aluminum, zinc, and lead V 1/2-in ball 150 Red
K,L,M,P, Bearing metals and other very soft or thin
R,S,V materials. Use smallest ball and heaviest Source: from Lysaght and DeBellis, Ref. 8
load that does not produce anvil effects
N Used for same materials as for HRA, HRC, and
HRG but for thinner gauge or case depths
T Used for same materials as for HRB, HRF, and
HRG but for thinner gauge
W,X,Y Used for very soft materials
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 GE Aircraft Engines

Hardness Testing

Brale sphere-conical diamond penetrator

Depth to Depth to
which penetrator which penetrator
is forced by minor load is forced by major load

Increment in depth due to increment

in load is the linear measurement
that forms the basis of Rockwell
Surface Hardness Tester
of specimen Readings

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 GE Aircraft Engines

The Superficial Scales are as Follows:

Major Scales
load N T W X Y
(kg) Diamond (1/16-in ball) (1/8-in ball) (1/4-in ball) (1/2-in ball)

15 15N 15T 15W 15X 15Y

30 30N 30T 30W 30X 30Y

45 45N 45T 45W 45X 45Y

Scales used on GE Coating are 15N and 15Y

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 GE Aircraft Engines

Superficial Hardness
• Coupon size - 1.5”x.75”x.06” (minimum Size)

• Coating thickness
- Hardcoats - .009”-.013”
- Abradables - .040” min

• Arithmetic average - rounding off to the nearest 0.1

• Ten sequential readings

• Locations uniformly spaced - 3 impression diameters

• All readings recorded and reported in the certificate

of test
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 GE Aircraft Engines

Macro Hardness Testing

Specification requirement for MacroHardness is a Minimum of Ten (10) Readings

Macro Hardness Report

Results (R-15N or R-15Y) Load _______
1.) _____ 2.) _____ 3.) _____ 4.) _____ 5.) ____
6.) _____ 7.) _____ 8.) _____ 9.) _____ 10.) ____
Average
Required Minimum: ________
Accept:______ Reject:______

Date: __________ Signature: _____________

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 GE Aircraft Engines

Micro Hardness Testing

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Vickers Hardness
• Polished cross section
• Coating thickness - .009”-.013”
• 300 gram load
• Arithmetic average
• Ten sequential readings
• Locations uniformly spaced - 3 impression
diameters
• All readings recorded and reported in the
certificate of test 21
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 Micro Hardness Testing GE Aircraft Engines

Micro Hardness Report Required: 300 gram

Vickers Scale Test Load _______
P/n ________ Date: _______
1.) _____ 2.) _____ 3.) _____ 4.) _____ 5.) ____
6.) _____ 7.) _____ 8.) _____ 9.) _____ 10.) ____
Average
Hardness Requirements: __________
D2
Accept:______ Reject: ______

D1 D1 Signature: _____________
Measure base on the
area D1 + D2

D2 Date : __________
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 GE Aircraft Engines

Micro Hardness Testing

Left filar adjustment Right filar adjustment

Impression

Left filar line

Right filar line

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 GE Aircraft Engines

Vickers Hardness
1.8544 x P(Kg)
Vickers hardness number =
d2 (mm)
Operating
position

136o
136o

Indenter is a symmetrical, square based,

diamond pyramid with face angles of 136o 24
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 GE Aircraft Engines

Vickers Microhardness
Wrong Impression Right Impression
Kite-shaped Diamond -shaped

• Indenter hits both soft/hard particle

and/or porosity

• Mount not parallel - must be within

.002”
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 GE Aircraft Engines

Knoop Hardness
Knoop hardness number = 14,229L x P(Kg)
d2 (mm)

Indenter is rhombohedral-shaped diamond,

Long diagonal is 7x as long as the short diagonal ,
diamond with face angles of 172o - 30o 26
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 GE Aircraft Engines

Knoop Hardness:
Out of shape / Irregular Impressions caused by:

• Indenter hits both soft/hard

particle

• Mount not parallel - must be

within .002”

Normal Knoop shaped

impressions

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 GE Aircraft Engines

Micro Hardness Testing

3 7 8
5 9 10
1 2 6 3 8
4 5 6 7 9 10
1 2
4

Readings shall be uniformly spaced.

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 Micro Hardness Testing GE Aircraft Engines

Knoop Micro Hardness Report Required: 300 gram

Knoop Scale Test Load _______
P/n ________ Date: _______
1.) _____ 2.) _____ 3.) _____ 4.) _____ 5.) ____
6.) _____ 7.) _____ 8.) _____ 9.) _____ 10.) ____
Average
Hardness Requirements: __________

D1
Accept: _____ Reject:_____

Measure the area of D1

Signature: _____________

D1 29
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