Rationale
The effect of heat treatment and plastic deformation on the hardness of some metal samples will be investigated. Hardness measurements are non-destructive and may be used to explore the property changes of a single sample as it undergoes various treatments. This is an important technique for verifying the effects of heat treatment and deformation history on actual devices rather than test samples. The Rockwell hardness tester to be used measures the depth of the indentation produced when an indenter is pushed into the sample surface under a known load. The hardness scale associated with this technique is empirical.

Low carbon steel samples will be heat treated and their hardness measured in the initial condition, after heating to red heat and quenching, after heating to red heat and being slowly cooled, and after quenching followed by an annealing process.

Plastic deformation causes a permanent change in the dimensions of a sample and is accompanied by Work (Strain) Hardening. The samples for the Instron tensile test will be studied before and after deformation to ductile fracture, and their hardness measured