1. Hardness Testing Indentation Hardness used for steel
as opposed to scratch or rebound hardness
It is indicative of ultimate tensile strength
Atoms move out of the way to create indentation
Two main types: Brinell and Rockwell

2. Brinell Hardness

3. Brinell Hardness
A spherical indenter (1 cm diameter) is shot with 29 kN force at the target
Frequently the indenter is steel, but for harder materials it is replaced with a tungsten carbide sphere
The diameter of the indentation is recorded
The indentation diameter can be correlated with the volume of the indentation.

4. Brinell Hardness

5. Brinell Hardness
ASTM and ISO use the HB value. It can be HBS (Hardness, Brinell, Steel) or the HBW (Hardness, Brinell, Tungsten)
HBW = BHN
Sometimes written as HBW 10/3000 (Tungsten, 10 mm diameter, 3,000 kg force)

6. Typical HB values Material Hardness Softwood (e.g., pine)
1.6 HBS 10/100
Hardwood
2.6–7.0 HBS /100
Aluminum
15 HB
Copper
35 HB
Mild steel
120 HB
18-8 (304) stainless steel annealed
200 HB
Glass
1550 HB
Hardened tool steel
1500–1900 HB
Rhenium diboride
4600 HB

7. Rockwell Hardness

8. Rockwell Hardness

9. Rockwell Hardness Scales
Code
Load
Indenter
Use A
HRA
60 kgf
120° diamond cone
Tungsten carbide B
HRB
100 kgf
1/16 in diameter steel sphere
Al, brass, and soft steels C
HRC
150 kgf
Harder steels D
HRD E
HRE
1/8 in diameter steel sphere F
HRF G
HRG

10. Conversion/Comparison
HBW 10/3000
HRA 60KG
HRB 100KG
HRC 150KG
Tensile Strength (Approx)
638
80.8 -
59.2
329,000
578
79.1 56
297,000
461
74.9
48.5
235,000
375
70.6
40.4
188,000
311
66.9
33.1
155,000
241
61.8
100
22.8
118,000
207
94.6 16
100,000
179 89
87,000
149
73,000
111
65.7
56,000

11. Effect of Strain Rate

12. Effect of Strain Rate

13. Effect of Temperature

14. Creep
When a material is loaded below the yield stress point for a long period of time, it may incur plastic deformation.
When the material is stretched below the yield point at increased temperatures creep will develop over several stages.
The temperature level at which creep will initiate depends on the alloy
For aluminum, creep may start at approx. 200°C and for low alloying steel at approx. 370°C

15. Creep

16. Creep

17. Effects of Punching Holes/Shearing
Holes and shearing cause cold work near the edges of the material.
Cold work can lead to brittle failure/cracking

18. Drilling Holes
The work hardening effect when drilling the austenitic stainless steel grades eg 304, 316 is the main cause of problems.
make sure that the steel is fully annealed when deep or small diameter holes are to be drilled.
Cold drawn bar products should be avoided.
rigid machines and tooling should be used when drilling or reaming.

19. Drilling
Center punching with conventional conical shaped punches can result in enough localized work hardening to make drill entry difficult.
drill tip can deflect or wander, glaze the surface or blunt the drill tip and result in drill breakages
Where a punch mark is needed to help get the hole started, a light mark using a three-cornered pyramid tip punch is a better idea.

20. Drilling
Essential to maintain feed rate to cut the work hardened layer generated as the metal is cut.
Dwell or rubbing must be avoided.
Entry and re-entry should be done at full speed and feed rate.
When drilling through-holes, a backing plate should be used to help avoid drill breakages as the drill comes out of the blind side of the hole.

21. Drills
The cutting angle should be around 135°. Larger angles produce thinner chips that should be easier to remove, which is important when drilling stainless steels.
Lower angles of around 120° can be used for drilling free-machining grades

22. Reaming
Cold working during drilling, punching or machining the preparation hole prior to reaming austenitic stainless steels must be minimized.
Sufficient material must be left on the hole wall however to allow a positive reaming cut to be made to undercut the new work-hardened layer produced.

23. Reaming

24. Shearing Steel

25. Shearing Steel
If shear edges are to be left exposed, at least 1/16 inch of material should be trimmed
Usually by grinding or machining
Note that rough machining (edge planers making a deep cut) can produce same effects

26. Effects of Welding
Failures in service rarely occur in a properly made weld.
When failure occurs it is initiated at a notch defect
This could come from flaws in the weld metal
Welding-arc strikes may cause embrittlement in the base metal
Preheating before welding minimizes risk of brittle failure.
Less likelihood of cracking during cooling

27. Welding Rapid cooling of weld can have bad effects.
If there is an arc strike with no deposited metal, it will cool quicker than the rest and likely embrittle
Welds are sometimes peened to prevent cracking and distortion.
Some specs prohibit peening in first and last weld passes.
Peening reduces toughness and impact properties (work hardens the weld)

28. Single pass weld

29. Multipass weld

30. Defect

31. Thermal Cutting Oxyfuel, air carbon arc, plasma arc
Similar problems with welding
Pre-heating is desired in many applications
Roughness of cut surface depends on
Uniformity of pre-heat
Uniformity of the cutting velocity
Quality of steel

32. Thermal Cutting

33. Residual stress flame cut