There are two primary ways to test the hardness of a material – scratch testing and indentation testing. Indentation testing can only be used on materials that undergo plastic deformation, such as metals and thermoplastic polymers. The scratch test is therefore used for brittle materials such as ceramics. The hardness of a material can be determined using Moh’s hardness scale, which ranks a material based on a list of standard materials of known hardness. The scratch resistance of the material is ranked on a scale between the material it just scratches and the material that it fails to scratch. There are many ways to measure the hardness of a material by indenting it. The three most common tests used to measure hardness are the Brinell test, the Vicker’s Diamond test, and the Rockwell test.

NG-RockGen – Analogue Series Rockwell Hardness Tester, both manual and Electronic has the following instrument size (L x W x H): 18 x 6.18 x 25.90″ (imperial) or 45.7 x 15.7 x 66 cm (metric). The instrument weight is 187 lbs or 85 kilograms fully assembled. For more information about the tester or to obtain a quote, click here.