MECHANICS OF

MATERIALS

Report 4
Submitted To:
Engr. Arhum Hassan
 Group Members:
M. Rafay Khwaja Abdul Moiz
(170301040) (170301058)

Syed Abdullah Shah Ushna Liaqat

(170301003) (170301005)
Vickers Hardness Test
Experiment
Literature review
The Vickers hardness test was developed in 1921 by Robert L. Smith and
George E. Sandland at Vickers Ltd as an alternative to the Brinell method to
measure the hardness of materials. The Vickers test is often easier to use than
other hardness tests since the required calculations are independent of the
size of the indenter, and the indenter can be used for all materials
irrespective of hardness. The Vickers hardness test method consists of
indenting the test material with a diamond indenter, in the form of a right
pyramid with a square base and an angle of 136 degrees between opposite
faces subjected to a load of 1 to 100 kgf. The full load is normally applied for
10 to 15 seconds. The two diagonals of the indentation left in the surface of
the material after removal of the load are measured using a microscope and
their average calculated. The area of the sloping surface of the indentation is
calculated. The Vickers hardness is the quotient obtained by dividing the kgf
load by the square mm area of indentation[ CITATION Gor02 \l 1033 ]. When doing
the hardness tests the minimum distance between indentations and the
distance from the indentation to the edge of the specimen must be taken into
account to avoid interaction between the work-hardened regions and effects
of the edge.
Procedure:
1. First of all, prepare the sample whose hardness you want to test.
2. The load we are applying in this experiment is 10 kgf
3. Place the sample on the test stage such that it is directly below
microscope.
4. Now see through the microscope until the sample is clearly visible
through the microscope.
5. Now switch to the indenter and fix it into place (make sure that it snaps
into place).
6. Now set the dwell time, in this experiment we set the dwell time to 10
seconds.
7. Now press the start button to start the indentation.
8. Switching back to the microscope snapping it into place.
9. Now we use the provided microscope to measure the horizontal and
vertical diagonals of the diamond shaped indenter.
10. From the given data measure the HV of VPN.

Microscopic appearance

The microscopic appearance of the indent are as follows

Aluminum sample Aluminum sample after

before indentation indentation
Stainless steel sample
Stainless steel sample
before indentation
after indentation

Mild steel sample before Mild steel sample after

indentation indentation
Calculations:

For Aluminum

The horizontal length=8.33

The vertical length=8.80

8.33+8.80
¿
2

=8.565
8.565
= 10

=0.8565mm

Using the given table

=25.3 HV

For stainless steel

The horizontal length=6.70

The vertical length=6.75

6.70+6.75
¿
2

=6.725
6.725
= 10

=0.6725mm

Using the given table

=41.25 HV

For Mild Steel

The horizontal length=8.14

The vertical length=8.13
8.14+8.13
¿
2

=8.135
8.135
= 10

=0.8135mm

Using the given table

=28.1 HV

Conclusion:

From the above calculation we can say that the samples we have tested is
have 25.3 HV for Aluminum, 28.1 HV mild steel and 41.25 HV for stainless
steel.
 Works Cited

[1] "Gordon England," 2 may 2002. [Online]. Available:

https://www.gordonengland.co.uk/hardness/vickers.htm.