Dynamic indentation hardness of materials

Indentation hardness is one of the simplest and most commonly used measures for quickly characterizing material response under static loads. Hardness may mean resistance to cutting to a machinist, resistance to wear to a tribologist, or a measure of flow stress to a design engineer. In this simple technique, a predetermined force is applied to an indenter for 5-30 seconds causing it to penetrate a specimen. By measuring the load and the indentation size, a hardness value is determined. However, the rate of deformation during indenter penetration is of the order of {dollar}rm10sp{lcub}-4{rcub} ssp{lcub}-1{rcub}.{dollar} In most practical applications, such as high speed machining or impact, material deforms at strain rates in excess of {dollar}rm10sp3{lcub}-{rcub}10sp5 ssp{lcub}-1{rcub}.{dollar} At such high rates, it is well established that the plastic behavior of materials is considerably different from their static counterpart. For example, materials exhibit an increase in their yield stress, flow stress, fracture stress, and fracture toughness at high strain rates. Hence, the use of static hardness as an indicator of material response under dynamic loads may not be appropriate.; Accordingly, a simple dynamic indentation hardness tester is developed for characterizing materials at strain rates similar to those encountered in realistic situations. The experimental technique uses elastic stress wave propagation phenomena in a slender rod. The technique is designed to deliver a single indentation load of 100-200 {dollar}mu{dollar}s duration. Similar to static measurements, the dynamic hardness is determined from the measured load and indentation size.; Hardness measurements on a range of metals have revealed that the dynamic hardness is consistently greater than the static hardness. The increase in hardness is strongly dependent on the crystal structure of the material. The observed trends in hardness are also found to be consistent with the yield and flow stresses of these materials under uniaxial compression. Therefore, it is suggested that the current technique can be used to assess the rate sensitive nature of engineering materials.; To further characterize the plastic strains within the indentation volume, static microhardness measurements were also performed within this region. The contours of microhardness indicated that the plastic zone beneath the indenter is typically smaller under dynamic conditions compared to static loading for rate sensitive materials. To assess the influence of the elastic modulus, yield stress, and work hardening coefficient on the induced plastic volume, finite element simulations were performed using the explicit finite element code LS-DYNA3D. The parametric study revealed that the yield stress has the most significant influence on the size and shape of the plastic zone.; The above microstructural and numerical results can be used as guidelines for proper selection and design of engineering materials in applications involving high strain rate loading. Moreover, the contours of microhardness variation can be used to verify the suitability of analytical models developed for characterizing the deformation behavior of engineering materials under complex three dimensional loads.