The load/indentation depth method has received broad acceptance both in quality control and in research and product development for characterizing the mechanical behavior of thin coatings and also of small and smallest material areas. Continuous high-resolution recording of test load and indentation depth for the full test cycle (loading and unloading) is used in a variety of ways in particular for test loads in the microhardness range. Contributing factors to its acceptance were the greater information content of the measurement results, the operator-independent test procedure and the speedy standardization of the test method. However, until now, the use of the instrumented indentation test has been limited to relatively small specimens or required the supply of small samples. Extracting a sample leads to the destruction of the product, and the separate production of a sample requires additional expenditures and does not always ensure comparable properties. The computer-controlled Fischerscope® H100 Compakt (H100 C) opens entirely new areas of applications for efficient tests of materials and thin coatings both on small samples/micro components and on large specimens such as coated shafts, forming components, etc. Using selected examples, this paper reports about the capabilities of this new measurement technology for applications with small test loads and indentation depths as well as the use of the mobile measuring head H100SMC on large-area and compact specimens.

We have developed an heterodyne laser interferometer system to measure the indenter displacement of instrumented indentation at nano-/micro- ranges. The developed interferometer was applied to measure the displacement of an commercial type indentation tester. The interferometer system and the tester was set on the different anti-vibration systems. So the main difficulty of this measurement was how to got rid of the relative vibration effect. We designed the system as that the reference points of the system is set to the displacement measurement mirrors on the testers. The total stability of the displacement measurement system was about 10 nm in spite of the larger amplitude of the relative vibration, which is larger than the 1 mm. We can successfully measure the indenter displacement by using newly designed interferometer system and is compared the displacement signal obtained from the tester.

The form deviations of Rockwell diamond indenters can cause significant differences in Rockwell hardness readings. In order to control that effect, tolerances for form error deviations of Rockwell diamond indenters have been specified in both the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards. In this paper, experimental data on the effects of form deviations of Rockwell indenters are analyzed. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is used to simulate the effect of form deviations on HRC readings. Theoretical analyses are verified by experimental results. Based on these results, as manufacturing and measurement techniques for Rockwell diamond indenters improve, it is suggested that a tighter tolerance be specified for the form deviations of Rockwell indenters used for calibrations of reference blocks.

Characteristics of the empirically developed Rockwell hardness test make it difficult to determine measurement uncertainty using methods based on mathematical models describing the relationship between the measurand and the influence quantities. An empirical approach to determining Rockwell hardness uncertainty has been developed, which provides a method based on the familiar procedures and practices of Rockwell hardness testing laboratories. The approach views the hardness machine and indenter as a single measuring device, and considers uncertainties associated with the machine repeatability and the usage of the machine over time with varying environmental conditions and with different operators. The approach also considers the measurement bias of the Rockwell hardness machine as compared to reference standards.

The paper describes the GALINDENT system that LTF – Galileo Hardness Testing Department, in co-operation with the Institute of Metrology "G. Colonnetti", has developed for the geometrical verification of Rockwell, Vickers diamond indenters, as prescribed by ISO Standards. This system consists of two instruments: an Interferometric Sine-Bar, for angular, straightness and flatness measures and a Rotary Table, for the verification of the spherical tip of Rockwell indenters. These two devices can be set up in one workstation, interfaced with the same computer for data analysis. A software package has been specifically developed to manage the entire system. The measurement test cycle is completely automated in order to ensure objective and reliable results. The operator interface, based on a graphic window menu in the Windows® environment, is extremely user friendly and it does not require any programming knowledge.