October 06,2011

Aswin Company 709 S 4th Ave Pocatello, ID 83201

Mr. Mike Gonzalez Mike Steel Company 1247 Broadway Somerville, MA 02144

Dear Mr. Mike This letter is written in regards to the hardness testing experiment conducted on the 28th September 2011 in materials and measurement laboratory located at Idaho State University. The hardness of the given sample material was determined using three different methods. The methods used were Brinell hardness test, Schore scleroscope harness testing method and Rockwell hardness test. All these tests were performed on the cold sample. This letter includes the hardness testing procedure using the above methods along with the calculation of confidence level of each of these testing procedures. First of all the given sample was tested using Schore scleroscope hardness testing method. In this method, the diamond tipped weight was dropped on the sample from the known height and the rebound was recorded on the dial indicator. This was done for ten different times to record ten different readings. The average hardness of the material was found to be 18.65 with the standard deviation of 1.886 and 95% confidence level of 393 times. Then the sample was tested using Brinell hardness testing. During the testing, the sample was subjected to the load of 1000kg and penetrated using 1/16 diameter hardened steel penetrator. The penetrating force was applied for about 10 seconds, the force was removed and the penetration made on the sample was read using a magnifying glass that has a scale attached to it. The average diameter of the impression made on the sample was found to be 3.07 mm with the standard deviation of 8.47. The number of calculations for obtaining 95% confidence level was also calculated and found to be 158. Finally, the given sample was tested using Rockwell hardness machine using B scale and applied a 100 kg of major load. The hardness of the sample was measured ten different times and the average hardness was found to be 74.5 with the standard deviation of 1.90. The 95% confidence level was calculated and found to be 25 times.

Hence, we performed the various hardness test of the material and found out that all the experiments are reliable even though they give different value for the hardness of the same sample. This difference in the value of the same sample is due to the fact that there is no standard value for the hardness of the material. Even though all of the methods are reliable, we recommend you to use the Rockwell hardness testing method as it seems more reliable than the other methods because of its precision, accuracy and higher confidence level as only 25 readings are sufficient to acquire 95% confidence level. The detail comparison of the methods is shown below on the table attached with this letter. We really appreciate your business with us and would be very pleased to work with your company in future. In case of any questions please dont hesitate to call us at 857-756-7614.

Sincerely Aswin karki Aswin Company Enclosures :{ Data obtained from all different three kinds of Hardness testing}

Hardness measurement using 3 methods (Table 1)

scleroscope Brinell (mm) Rockwell HRC HRB 21 3 138.2 42 75 19 3.1 129.2 40 73 20 3.2 121.1 39.5 73.5 18.5 3.1 129.2 40 75 21 3 138.2 39 74 17 3 138.2 38.5 76.5 17 2.9 148.1 39.5 75.5 15 3.1 129.2 42 71.5 19 3.2 121.1 42 78 19 3.1 129.2 42 73

Calculation of 95% confidence level (Table 2)

Stn. Deviation Stn. Deviation Stn. Deviation (n ) Scleroscope Brinell HRB Scleroscope (n ) Brinell (n ) HRB 1.88 8.47 1.90 393 158 25

Comparison of the three hardness test method (Table 3)

Average Time Taken for single test (s) n-prime Standard Deviation Rockwell Hardness Number(HRB) 75 60 25 1.9 Brinell Hardness Number 132 50 158 8.47 Schore Scleroscope Hardness Number 18.6 5 393 1.88