ROCKWELL HARDNESS TEST

AIM:

To determine the Hardness of the given Specimen using Rockwell hardness test..

APPARATUS:

1. Rockwell hardness testing machine.

2. Black diamond cone indenter,
3. Testing specimens.

Rockwell hardness test equipment

SPECIFICATIONS:

Various scales on Rockwell hardness testing machine.

SCAL Indentor Intial load Major load Pointer Kind of material

E type position on
dial
A Cone, 1200 10 50 0 Much harder such as
cemented steels, carburized
steel
B Ball 10 90 30 Soft steels, Cu,Al, Brass,
1.588mm grey CI.
C Cone, 1200 10 140 0 Hard steels, Ti,W, Va
THEORY:

The hardness of a material is resistance to penetration under a localized pressure or

resistance to abrasion. Hardness tests provide an accurate, rapid and economical way of
determining the resistance of materials to deformation. There are three general types of hardness
measurements depending upon the manner in which the test is conducted:

a. Scratch hardness measurement,

b. Rebound hardness measurement
c. Indention hardness measurement

In scratch hardness method the material are rated on their ability to scratch one another
and it is usually used by mineralogists only. In rebound hardness measurement, a standard body
is usually dropped on to the material surface and the hardness is measured in terms of the height
of its rebound .The general means of judging the hardness is measuring the resistance of a
material to indentation. The indenters usually a ball cone or pyramid of a material much harder
than that being used. Hardened steel, sintered tungsten carbide or diamond indenters are
generally used in indentation tests; a load is applied by pressing the indenter at right angles to the
surface being tested. The hardness of the material depends on the resistance which it exerts
during a small amount of yielding or plastic. The resistance depends on friction, elasticity,
viscosity and the intensity and distribution of plastic strain produced by a given tool during
indentation.

PROCEDURE:-

1. Clean the surface of the specimen with an emery sheet.

2. Place the specimen on the testing platform.
3. Raise the platform until the longer needle comes to rest
4. Release the load.
5. Apply the load and maintain until the longer needle comes to rest
6. After releasing the load, note down the dial reading.
7. The dial reading gives the Rockwell hardness number of the specimen.
8. Repeat the same procedure three times with specimen.
9. Find the average. This gives the Rockwell hardness number of the given specimen.
PRECAUTION:-

1. Thickness of the specimen should not be less than 8 times the depth of
indentation to avoid the deformation to be extended to the opposite surface of a
specimen.

2. Indentation should not be made nearer to the edge of a specimen to avoid

unnecessary concentration of stresses. In such case distance from the edge to
the center of indentation should be greater than 2.5 times diameter of
indentation.

3. Rapid rate of applying load should be avoided. Load applied on the ball may rise
a little because of its sudden action. Also rapidly applied load will restrict plastic
flow of a material, which produces effect on size of indentation.

OBESERVATION TABLE:-

Rockwell hardness Rockwell

S.No Material Scale Load (kgf) Number hardness
Used Number
1 2 3 (Mean)

RESULT:

Rockwell hardness number of the given material is _________