Vickers Hardness

The Vickers hardness test was developed in the early 1920s as an alternative method to measure the hardness of materials. The basic principle, as with all common measures of hardness, is to observe the questioned materials' ability to resist identation from a standard source. The Vickers test can be used for all metals and has one of the widest scales among hardness tests. The unit of hardness given by the test is known as the Vickers Pyramid Number (HV).

The Vickers hardness test uses a diamond, with the shape of square-based pyramid with an angle of 136' between opposite faces as an indenter. It is based on the principle that impressions made by this indenter are geometrically similar regardless of load. Accordingly, loads of various magnitudes are applied to a flat surface, depending on the hardness of the material to be measured.

See Also

Brinell Hardness and Moh's Scale of Hardness.