How Ultrasonic Hardness Tester Is Better Than a Bench Top Hardness Tester

How Ultrasonic Hardness Tester Is Better Than a Bench Top Hardness Tester

Hardness is the material’s ability to withstand permanent indentation. This empirical test defines the hardness value of materials depending on their type. Therefore, the results must be labeled with the specific method used.

Testing is commonly used in inspection and process control. Outcomes help estimate mechanical properties such as tensile strength. This process is done with appropriate testing machines that match an indenter. The shape of the indentor differs according to the type of hardness test needed.

An ultrasonic hardness tester is one of the most common testing solutions available today. But another hardness tester that you can consider is the bench top hardness tester type. Knowing what makes the difference between these hardness testers can help you choose the right tool for your testing needs.

Choosing the Best Hardness Tester

Bench and portable are the two main types of hardness tester. The stationary and classical testing tools are examples of bench, while the mobile and electronic hardness testers belong to the portable type.

Here are some tips in choosing a hardness tester:

  • Check if the device relies on ultrasonic vibration sensor rod. If it does, it means the tester can quickly determine the hardness value of the material including some metals without incurring damage.
  • Test the speed and precision of the testing tool. An advanced sensing technology using a single chip can make more accurate and quicker measurement results unlike the typical hardness tester.
  • Make sure the device supports value conversion. Before buying a hardness testing tool, check if it offers multi-point measurement. That way, precise printing and display of outcomes can be achieved.

Ultrasonic Hardness Tester vs. Bench Top Hardness Tester

Ultrasonic Hardness Tester

The ultrasonic portable hardness tester is an instrument that is lightweight and smaller in size. It’s a compact device that is designed to measure hardness using several scale violence. However, modern portable hardness testing tools are typically made to measure all types of scale violence.

One great advantage of using portable hardness tester is that it allows users to bring the device and measure samples anywhere they want. That means you can conveniently work on your projects without the hassles. Also, an electronic portable hardness tester offers useful features to make the process easier.

For instance, you can use the internal storage to save your measurement results. Then you can send the results to your computer so you can create a report through ARM control, a special feature designed for portable hardness testers. This is what makes an electronic portable hardness testing tool better than the bench top hardness tester.

Bench Top Hardness Tester

On the other hand, a bench top hardness testing device is a classical tester that is designed to measure hardness using standard methods like Vickery, Rockwell, Brinell, and Shor.

Some of the most common examples of this device include Bench Brinell hardness tester and Rockwell Bench hard tester. These tools will allow you to measure the value of hardness by scale as well as by some large hardness scale.

For instance, you can use a bench top hardness tester to determine hardness with Vickers, Brinell, and Rockwell scale. The only challenge in using this type of hardness testing tool is that it’s big and heavy, usually weighing 50 kilograms or even more.

Also, bench top hardness testers should be placed on the floor or mounted on a table. But these devices implement classical model which means you use direct method to accurately measure the hardness of any material.

Benefits of UCI Hardness Tester

The ultrasonic contact impedance hardness tester or commonly known as UCI hardness tester is made with a hand-held probe and host connected by a cable. The probe has a vibration bar that connects the pressure head of the Vickers. After the boot, the vibration bar creates the ultrasonic vibration.

Since the device relies on ultrasonic resonance, there will be no damage on your workpiece. But this is only one of the many benefits of using an ultrasonic hardness tester. More advantages of UCI hardness tester are listed below.

  • Perfect for measuring products with higher surface requirements.
  • An internal protection circuit is included to protect the device against interference.
  • The device can also detect different materials by simply using similar material or elastic modulus to execute test blocks while adjusting the probe without the need for replacement.
  • The in-built rechargeable battery has longer life so users can measure materials even without plugging into a power supply.
  • It can be used in measuring and calculating various materials despite the differences in their value of hardness.
  • There’s an optional plats for minimum workpiece detection. Meaning, you can modify the speed of detection according to your requirements.

But overall, an ultrasonic hardness tester is lightweight, smaller, and portable so you can accomplish your projects anytime and anywhere. You can use it in gears, bearings, and metal coating such as chrome layer, plating layer, carburizing layer, and nitriding layer.

Learn more by contacting our technical consultants or submitting a quote request.

More on this topic

Keep Reading in Portable Hardness Testers

See the Portable Hardness Testers range
Portable Hardness Testers28 Oct 2025Portable On-Site Material Testing: What It Is and How It WorksMaterial testing often brings to mind sterile labs and rows of machines operated by experts in coats. Precision matters, and controlled environments help deliver it. Still, not all testing happens behind glass doors. Increasingly, it’s done right where materials are used: at construction sites, along pipelines, or inside factories. This is called portable on-site material testing, sometimes referred to as field or mobile testing. The idea is simple: bring the tools to the job instead of sending samples away. Using portable devices, technicians can measure strength, composition, or defects on the spot, whether it’s checking a steel beam, analyzing soil, or verifying welds. Results come faster, decisions follow sooner. In this article, we’ll look at...Read the articleMetal Hardness Testing28 Sep 2026The Rockwell Scale Explained: How to Choose Between HRC, HRB and Superficial ScalesA Rockwell hardness number tells you very little until you know the letters that come with it. A reading of 60 on one scale and a reading of 60 on another describe different materials, tested with a different indenter under a different force, and neither can be compared with the other until someone knows which scale produced it. A drawing that asks for 60 HRC is specifying a whole test: a diamond indenter, a total force of 150 kgf and a depth measurement made in a defined way. ASTM defines thirty Rockwell scales. Picking the right one is a decision that can go wrong without any warning, because the wrong scale does not produce an error message. It produces a number, and that number looks just as plausible as a valid one. This article explains what...Read the articleMetal Hardness Testing10 Sep 2026How to Measure Case Depth: Effective Depth, Total Depth and the Hardness Limit That Decides ItA drawing asks for case depth in a single number, and that number carries a tolerance, an acceptance decision and sometimes a rejected heat lot. What the drawing rarely says is which of two different depths it means, or which hardness value marks the boundary. Two laboratories can follow the same procedure on the same part, measure carefully, and report depths that differ by a noticeable margin, because they drew the line in different places. The measurement itself is not the hard part. Agreeing on what is being measured is. This article is about the traverse: how case depth is defined, what fixes the boundary, and what the work demands from the equipment that produces it. If you are still deciding whether microhardness is the right method at all,...Read the articleMetal Hardness Testing12 Apr 2026Brinell, Rockwell, Vickers, or Microhardness: Which Test Makes Sense for Your Application?Choosing a hardness test starts with the part itself. Material type, section thickness, geometry, surface condition, inspection purpose, and required testing speed all affect which method will produce a reliable result. Brinell, Rockwell, Vickers, and microhardness methods work differently, so they are not equally suitable for the same component or the same quality task. Brinell, Vickers, and Knoop are based on the size of an indentation, while Rockwell is based on indentation depth. That difference directly affects how the result is obtained and where the method fits best. In production and lab work, problems usually appear when the test method does not fit the application. A part may be too thin for the selected load, the surface may be too rough...Read the articleMetal Hardness Testing18 Oct 2025Macrohardness vs. Microhardness Testing: What They Are and How They WorkIf you've worked with hardness testing, you've likely come across the terms "microhardness" and "macrohardness." They show up in datasheets, testing specs, and lab reports. Still, it's not always clear what separates the two — or when one is better than the other. Both belong to a broader category known as indentation hardness testing, a method used to assess how materials respond to pressure from a sharp or rounded object. Microhardness and macrohardness approaches were developed to deal with very different scales and sample types, from polished coatings to structural steel. At first glance, the difference seems simple. But there's more to it than load size or indent depth. This article breaks down what micro- and macrohardness testing actually...Read the articleMetal Testing18 Sep 2026Gauge Length Marking and What It Does to Your Elongation ResultRecorded during the pull. Elongation is the one tensile property that is not measured during the test. Force and extension are captured while the machine is pulling, but elongation after fracture is worked out afterwards, on a bench, from two pieces of broken metal and a pair of marks that somebody applied before the test started. Everything that was careless about those marks arrives, unchanged, in the final report. That makes gauge marking a measurement step rather than a preparation chore. It is also the step most likely to be done differently by two operators in the same laboratory, on the same shift, using the same standard. The Marks Are Part of the Measurement Chain Measured after the break. A torn end against the rule. After the specimen...Read the articleMetal Testing5 Aug 2026Vicat Testing and What Cement Setting Time Really Tells YouVicat setting time is a standardized cement paste measurement used for specification compliance and quality control. It identifies when a paste prepared under defined conditions reaches the initial and final set criteria of the selected method. It does not directly predict concrete haul time, cold joint formation, finishing time or field workability, because those depend on the complete mixture: water content, admixtures, aggregates and temperature. This guide covers what Vicat setting time measures, how the apparatus produces the number, which test conditions make results drift, and what separates a manual instrument from an automatic one. Setting Time Is Not Early Strength Initial and final set describe the stiffening of a standardized cement...Read the articleMetal Testing2 Aug 2026Universal Testing Machine Software and What It Has to DoTwo laboratories can test comparable material on similar frames and still report different yield results if they use different control modes, strain inputs or calculation rules. Those differences can originate in the software layer rather than in the frame itself. That is why universal testing machine software deserves the same scrutiny as the force and strain measurement systems. This guide follows the software workflow from method definition and machine control through calculations, reporting and traceability. Control Comes Before Anything Else A tensile test is not simply pulling until something breaks. The standard tells you how fast to pull, and it usually says so in terms of a quantity the crosshead does not measure directly. That leaves the...Read the articleFlexural (Bend) Testing Explained: 3-Point vs 4-Point, Standards, and SetupMetal Testing20 Jul 2026Flexural (Bend) Testing Explained: 3-Point vs 4-Point, Standards, and SetupFlexural (bend) testing explained: what it measures, three-point vs four-point setups, the standards for plastics, metals, composites and concrete, and how to choose the right fixtures and...Read the article
Related equipment

Machines Behind This Article