Rockwell Indenters
Two shapes of
Indenter are shown opposite.
The 120o Diamond Cone is used
with a major
load of 150 Kg, and hardness is read on the
Rockwell C-Scale.
The
1/16 inch diameter steel ball is used with a
major load
of 100 Kg, and the hardness values
are those on the B-Scale.
These
hardness scales are empirical, and indicate
a relative ordering of material
hardness under
repeatable test conditions. The values obtained
can
be related to those from other test methods that use different loading conditions
and indenters. Examples are Brinell (10 mm sphere), Vickers (136o
diamond), and Knoop (a diamond pyramid.
