Hardness Testing

Hardness Testing

Responsive can provide Hardness Testing both on site and in our fully equipped laboratory in Whitehaven, Cumbria.

In our laboratory, we can perform Vickers Hardness Testing on prepared samples to BS EN ISO 6507 & BS EN ISO 9015.

Using this method, samples are first machined to a suitable size and the testing face polished to 2500 grit. Once placed into the Vickers Hardness Tester, the sample is brought into focus though the microscope optic then indented for a period of at least 10 seconds using a calibrated square based diamond point. The force placed on the diamond indenter is dependant on the testing scale with the scales of HV5 or HV10 commonly used. This equates to 5 kg/f & 10 kg/f or 49.03 N & 98.07 respectively.

Once the indenter has been removed, the diagonal lengths of the indent are measured in millimetres and the arithmetic mean, d, is calculated. The Vickers Hardness Number (HV) is then given by;

Vickers hardness (HV) = Test force (kgf) / Surface area of indentation (mm²)

On site, we can perform Leeb Hardness Testing to BS EN ISO 16859 on large components that can’t be transported to our laboratory or are unsuitable for Vickers Hardness Testing.

This method is a dynamic or rebound method where by a tungsten carbide ball is dropped or fired at the sample from inside a hand held testing probe. Impact velocity and the rebound velocity is then measured and the ratio between the two is used to calculate the Leeb Hardness Number (L);

L= (Rebound Velocity / Impact Velocity) x 1000