Scratch hardness test

Scratch hardness test (or sclerometry test) with NanoScan consists in producing the scratches on the sample surface with subsequent imaging of the resulting scratch traces. Before the measurements, the indentor shape is calibrated on a reference sample using the series of scratches at several defined loads. The material hardness value is calculated in comparison to the reference hardness as a proportion between the loads and widths of scratches on the tested and reference materials.

Scratch hardness test

The comparative tests show good correlation for this technique with Vickers hardness (Table 1).
Scanning and deformation of the surface is made by the same tip. It makes possible to avoid difficulties with searching the produced scratches and indents and reduces the time required for measurement procedure.

Table 1. Comparative hardness tests

* the value obtained using the indentor made of ultrahard fullerite С₆₀.