Measure Material’s Resistance To Deformation With Scratch Hardness Tester

Generally, the hardness of a material explains its resistance to deformation or permanence. There are three types of hardness measurements, indentation hardness, scratch hardness and rebound hardness. Among all these hardness testers, scratch hardness tester is used in metal industries to test the strength and resistance of metal products to deformation. The hardness of metal goods defines the quality of the material. Generally, the hardness explains the resistance of a material to deformation, and in case of metals, the properties are measured to test the resistance of a material to permanence or deformations. Indentation hardness is the major engineering concept that is applicable to the metal products.

Scratch hardness tester is used to determine the hardness of a material to abrasion or scratches due to the force or friction on the material through a sharp indenter. This test determines the physical properties of the materials. This type of test is also applicable to polymers, ceramics, coated surfaces, metals and so forth. At the time of measuring the scratch hardness, a diamond style of indenter scratches the surface of the specimen along a particular path under a determined force and constant speed.

The scratch hardness test is considered as the primary testing technique as per the mineralogists. By measuring the hardness of the metal goods, various properties of the materials are rated as per their ability to scratch. This test is performed as per the Moh’s scale. The test comprises of ten standard units that are arranged in order of their capacity to be scratched or indented. The softest part of the metal of the scale i.e. 1 is known as talc. The diamond has the hardness of 10. The Moh's scale used to measure the scratch hardness of a material is not best for metals as the intervals of these metals are not spaced in the highest range of hardness., The hardness range as per the Mohs’ scale is determined by the range of 4 to 8.

To perform the scratch hardness measurement test on the metals, the indenter is dropped on the surface of the material, and the hardness will be termed as the power of impact. The Scratch hardness tester is a very useful testing equipments which is used to perform the scratch hardness test under a particular load. The tester is recommended mainly for the metal industry and paint & plating industry in order to perform a proper quality assurance test on the products.

Author of this article is associated with Presto Group and he has written many articles on testing equipments, Demattia Flex tester etc.