Hardness

It measures the resistance of the material to indentation.

Hardness tests measure the plastic deformation (the size or depth) of an indentation.

Brinell hardness tests use spheres as indenters;

The Vickers test uses pyramids.

Rockwell tests use cones or spheres.


Micro hardness tests for specimens are also available, using the Knoop method with miniature pyramid indenters. Another hardness scale is Mohs’ scale, which lists materials in order of their hardness, beginning with talc and ending with diamond. 

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