Understanding the different hardness testing types and systems can be useful to determine an optimal solution. Hardness testing functionality has evolved, and now users can dial into world-class-caliber instrumentation that more closely aligns with their applications at hand.

Industrial Heating will host a free webinar Thursday, Feb. 24 at 2:00 p.m. (EST). Sponsored by Struers, “Hardness Testing: Sample Preparation and Other Parameters That Influence Results” will last approximately 60 minutes. Attendees of this webinar will learn about: Vickers, Knoop, Rockwell and Brinell test methods; parameters influencing hardness test results, including indent spacing and level of surface preparation; and common applications of hardness testing, including case hardness depth, Jominy testing and hardness mapping.

This column is designed to help you troubleshoot your heat-treatment problem. It will show you how to be effective, efficient and logical in your troubleshooting and help you determine if the problem is process, material, design or control.

TÜV Rheinland opened its newest testing services laboratory in West Unity, Ohio. Specializing in nondestructive and destructive testing services for the automotive and aviation/aerospace industries, TÜV Rheinland of North America’s northwest Ohio facility is equipped to provide a full range of testing requirements. The facility includes a custom-built, fully automated magnetic-particle system that provides efficiency and accuracy not achievable with off-the-shelf systems. Production hardness testing and additional nondestructive testing capabilities will also be offered.

A webshop, www.store.ametekstc.com, offers quick, reliable and secure online shopping of hardness testing accessories such as shear pins, test blocks, indenters and anvils that can be used with both Newage products as well as other Rockwell, Brinell, Vickers and Knoop hardness testing and micro-hardness testing systems.

Verder Scientific formally agreed to acquire all shares of Dexter, Mich.-based Mager Scientific Inc., a distributor of metallographic and hardness testing equipment. Verder Scientific is a division of the Verder Group, a group of companies engaged in the global development, manufacturing and distribution of products and services for scientific applications. Mager Scientific has represented Verder Group’s QATM product lines for metallographic preparation and hardness testing since 2005.

David Pye's blog series on hardness testing continues ... and concludes with part 11.

David Pye's series on hardness testing continues with part 10.

In 1939, Frederick Knoop and his colleagues at The National Bureau of Standards submitted an alternatively designed indenter based on a rhombohedra-shaped diamond whose long diagonal was approximately seven times as long as the short diagonal.

David Pye's blog series on hardness testing continues.