A material’s hardness relates to its mechanical resistance when subjected to mechanical indentation by another harder body. Diamond is considered the hardest natural material and is typically used for ...

Rockwell hardness testing is a method of determining the relative hardness of a material. In this test, hardness is measured by determining the depth of residual penetration by a steel ball or a ...

INCLUSIONS and structural elements of metallographic specimens can be identified by examining the effect of various etching reagents. This method not only takes up a great deal of time, but also ...

In my July 2005 column, a new ASTM standard shear test method was introduced 1. At that time, I raised the question, Why do we need another shear test method for composite materials?, with the promise ...

When designing metal parts, it's important to specify their hardness. However, many engineers have only a shaky understanding of what hardness actually is, or how it's measured. There are good reasons ...