Resistance to deformation or indentation. Materials with little resistance are called soft; and those with high resistance are called hard.
Finer grained structures are harder than larger grained structures. Measured in steel by scientific instruments as follows:
Brinell machine for sizes over 1/2" in diameter or thickness. Based on measurement of the diameter of the indentation of a standard size ball under a standard applied load.
Rockwell machine for sizes under 1/2" in diameter or thickness. Based on a measurement of the depth of penetration of a standard indentor under a standard applied load.
"B" scale - for soft materials such as brass, stainless steel (1/8" ball @ 100Kg load);
"T" scale - for very thin (<0.040" thick) soft materials that normally use the "B" scale (1/16" ball @ 15, 30 or 45 Kg load);
"C" scale - for harder materials such as high strength steel, tool steel, duplex stainless steel, martensitic and precipitation hardening stainless steel (diamond @ 15, 30 or 45 Kg load)
The interest in hardness is because it correlates well with strength; with harder materials being stronger.
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