When designing metal parts, it's important to specify their hardness. However, many engineers have only a shaky understanding of what hardness actually is, or how it's measured. There are good reasons ...

Fundamentally, hardness testing determines the resistance a material exhibits in response to the permanent deformation of another material’s penetration. If I take a piece of metal and rub something ...

Heat treatment is an essential technique for influencing workpiece characteristics. Several industries focus on reliable part design to avoid breaking parts, e.g. by decreasing material weight and ...

If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in ...

THE hardness of metals, as Dr. Hugh O'Neill once said, like the storminess of seas, is easily appreciated but not readily measured. Prof. Lea has attempted to describe the various methods of measuring ...