METHOD OF DETERMINING AVERAGE HARDNESS FOR HETEROGENEOUS MATERIALS Russian patent published in 2025 - IPC G01N3/40 G01N19/08 

FIELD: measuring.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to materials science, namely to investigation of strength properties of inhomogeneous materials by application of mechanical forces to them. Surface of samples is prepared. To determine the hardness of the material, after analysing the structure of its surface, determining the maximum grain size of all phase components of the material included in the surface structure a₁, a₂, ..., a_n, where 1, 2, …, n – symbol of material components. Comparison method is used to select maximum grain size a_max from selected groups a₁, a₂, ..., a_n. After applying a load on the surface of the material and making prints, a mesh is formed, consisting of elementary cells, the size of which is a_max. Diagonals of the imprints are measured, the measurement results are recorded and the calculation is performed.

EFFECT: possibility of more accurate determination of average hardness value of non-uniform material with considerable differences of mechanical properties of its components.

1 cl, 2 dwg