Metalworking takes place in a wide variety of production facilities – from forging plants, metalworking shops and rolling mills to pipe and profile manufacturers through to rail and aircraft industries.
If hardness is tested on the production floor of a forging plant, rolling mill, metalworking shop, pipe or profile manufacturing facility, then the hardness testing machine must be robust enough to deliver reliable and reproducible measurement results in the harsh production environment. Here, testing is conducted predominantly with high test forces in the macro range.
In rail and aircraft industry production facilities, the widest variety of hardness testing tasks are performed – from tests on small screws or rivets through to large carriage wheels or welded joints on aircraft wings. Consequently, hardness tests are conducted here in the low-load, micro and macro ranges.