Indentation Hardness Measurements at Macro-, Micro-, and Nanoscale: A Critical Overview

The Brinell, Vickers, Meyer, Rockwell, Shore, IHRD, Knoop, Buchholz, and nanoindentation methods used to measure the indentation hardness of materials at different scales are compared, and main issues and misconceptions in the understanding of these methods are comprehensively reviewed and discussed. Basic equations and parameters employed to calculate hardness are clearly explained, and the different international standards for each method are summarized. The limits for each scale are explored, and the different forms to calculate hardness in each method are compared and established. The influence of elasticity and plasticity of the material in each measurement method is reviewed, and the impact of the surface deformation around the indenter on hardness values is examined. The difficulties for practical conversions of hardness values measured by different methods are explained. Finally, main issues in the hardness interpretation at different scales are carefully discussed, like the influence of grain size in polycrystalline materials, indentation size effects at micro-and nanoscale, and the effect of the substrate when calculating thin films hardness. The paper improves the understanding of what hardness means and what hardness measurements imply at different scales.Funding Agencies|Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Linkoping University ((Faculty Grant SFO Mat LiU) [2009 00971]</p

Evaluation of Stress Corrosion Cracking, Sulfide Stress Cracking, Galvanic-Induced Hydrogen Stress Cracking, and Hydrogen Embrittlement Resistance of Aged UNS N06625 Forged Bars

UNS N06625 is a nickel-based superalloy used for oil and gas applications and commonly produced according to NACE MR0175 in the annealed/solution annealed condition. The annealing/solution annealing treatment makes the material corrosion resistant in the most challenging environments, in the presence of sulfides and chlorides at high pressure and temperature. However, thanks to its chemical composition, UNS N06625 can also be considered as an age-hardenable material whose mechanical strength can be improved by promoting the metastable second phase gamma'' precipitation into the gamma matrix. However, the corrosion behavior of the aged alloy has never been investigated in NACE environments. This paper aims to understand the suitability of the age-hardened condition of UNS N06625 for oil and gas applications through the evaluation of the material corrosion performance in NACE level VII environments by using NACE TM0177 tests. Three heats of UNS N06625 have been produced and forged in different bar diameters: 152 mm (6 in), 203.2 mm (8 in), and 254 mm (10 in). Afterward, the bars have been annealed and age-hardened according to optimized time-temperature parameters and finally tested to assess their mechanical properties and resistance to stress corrosion cracking, sulfide stress cracking, galvanic-induced hydrogen stress cracking, and hydrogen embrittlement