U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

PUBLICATIONS

Rockwell Hardness - A Method-Dependent Standard Reference Material

Published

Author(s)

Samuel R. Low III, R J. Gettings, Walter S. Liggett Jr, Jun-Feng Song

Abstract

Rockwell hardness is not a fundamental physical property of a material. It is a method-dependent measurement of the deformation of the material to an applied force. There are no alternative measurement systems to directly or independently measure Rockwell hardness, nor are there intrinsic artifacts to base these standards on. Nevertheless, Rockwell hardness is an important measurement, widely used for process control and acceptance testing of metals and metal products. As a result, reference materials are essential for comparing Rockwell test results. This paper describes the challenges of developing a reference material for a method-dependent measurement.
Citation
National Conference of Standards Laboratories International
Pub Type
Journals

Keywords

hardness, HRC, indenter, Rockwell hardness, SRM, standard reference material, standarization, test block, test cycle

Citation

Low, S. , Gettings, R. , Liggett, W. and Song, J. (1999), Rockwell Hardness - A Method-Dependent Standard Reference Material, National Conference of Standards Laboratories International (Accessed May 3, 2025)

Issues

If you have any questions about this publication or are having problems accessing it, please contact reflib@nist.gov.

Created July 1, 1999, Updated February 17, 2017