Comparison of different hardness indexes of stainless steel pipe

  Stainless steel pipe generally use three Brinell, Rockwell, Vickers hardness indicators to measure their hardness.Brinell hardness is widely used in stainless steel pipe standards. Generally, the indentation diameter can indicate the hardness of the material, which is very intuitive and convenient, but this hardness is not suitable for harder or thinner steel and steel pipes.

           The Rockwell hardness test of stainless steel pipes is similar to the Brinell hardness test, and they are performed by the indentation test method. The difference is that this is required to measure the indentation depth. The Rockwell hardness test is generally a widely used method. Among them, HRC is second only to Brinell hardness HB in the steel pipe standard. Therefore, Rockwell hardness is generally suitable for measuring very soft or extremely hard metal materials. It can make up for the shortcomings of the Brinell method and is simpler than the Brinell method. It can read the hardness value directly from the dial of the hardness machine. But because the indentation is small, the hardness value is not as accurate as the Brinell method.

          The Vickers hardness test of stainless steel pipes also uses the indentation test method, which can be used to determine the hardness of very thin metal materials and surface layers. It has the advantages of the Brinell and Rockwell methods, and can overcome their basic shortcomings, but it is not as simple as the Rockwell method, so the general Vickers method is rarely used in steel pipe standards.