Abstract
ALTHOUGH the hardness of a substance is not a physical constant, and cannot be expressed as a function of known physical constants, the idea of hardness is a familiar one, and empirical determinations of hardness play a great part in the study of materials. Methods depending on scratching now take only a subordinate place, and ‘resistance to indentation’ is the most generally accepted definition of hardness. The Brinell test, in which a hard ball is pressed into the object under a known load, forms the basis of most hardness testing, but the introduction of the diamond pyramid, as in the Vickers test, in place of a steel ball, has given greater precision to the test.
The Hardness of Metals and its Measurement
By Dr. Hugh O'Neill. Pp. xiv + 292 + 24 plates. (London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1934.) 25s. net.
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D., C. The Hardness of Metals and its Measurement. Nature 136, 415 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/136415c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/136415c0