BRINELL HARDNESS TESTERS
The Brinell hardness test employs a hard steel or carbide ball indenter to determine the hardness of materials, particularly metals and alloys. A specific force is applied to the indenter, creating an indentation on the material's surface. The diameter of this resulting indentation is precisely measured, and the Brinell hardness number (BHN or HBW) is calculated by dividing the applied load by the calculated surface area of the spherical indentation. This technique is especially useful for testing materials with heterogeneous microstructures, such as castings and forgings, where the coarser grain structure can affect the accuracy of other hardness testing methods like Rockwell or Vickers.