Page 98 - Quick Guide to Welding and Weld Inspection by S.E. Hughes, Clifford Matthews

A Quick Guide to Welding and Weld Inspection

the indentation the harder the material. Hardness testing
normally encompasses the weld and HAZ and is usually done
to confirm that PWHT has been carried out correctly. When
hardness testing is done for weld procedure qualification
purposes it is often done through the weldment thickness as
hardness levels can vary considerably through the thickness.
The various types of hardness testing have their own units:
. Vickers test: HV (Vickers hardness);
. Brinell test: HB (Brinell hardness);
. Rockwell: HR (Rockwell hardness).
A Shore Schlerescope is a portable dynamic hardness test
using equipment similar in size to a ballpoint pen. It drops a
weight from a height on to the test surface and measures the
height of the rebound. The higher the rebound the higher the
hardness value, which can be read off in any selected unit. It
may be used by the welding inspector to gauge hardness
values on site, but the accuracy depends on the condition of

Figure 6.11 Hardness tests

82

Woodhead Publishing Ltd – A Quick Guide to Welding and Weld Inspection
Data Standards Ltd, Frome, Somerset – 17/9/200906QG Welding chap6.3d Page 82 of 87