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The Brinell scale characterises the indentation hardness of materials through the scale of penetration of an indenter, loaded on a material test-piece. It is one of several definitions of hardness in materials science.
Proposed by J. A. Brinell in 1900, it was the first widely used and standardised hardness test in engineering and metallurgy. The large size of indentation and possible damage to test-piece limits its usefulness.
The typical test uses a 10 mm diameter steel ball as an indenter loaded with a 3,000 kg mass. For softer materials, a smaller load is used and for harder, a tungsten carbide ball. The indentation is measured and hardness calculated as:
{| border=0 align=left |P |= applied load (kg) |- |D |= diameter of indenter (mm) |- |t |= depth of indentation (mm) |- |}
Common values
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