This European Standard specifies the method for the Brinell hardness test for metallic matcrla15.
Special European Standards exist for particular materials and/or products (see clause 2).
This European Standard has been prepared by the Technical Committee ECISS/TC lA, Mechanical and physical tests, the secretariat of which is held by AFNOR.
This European Standard shall be given the status of a national standard, either by publication of an identical text or by endorsement, at the latest by April 1996, and conflicting national standards shall be withdrawn at the latest by April 1996.
During its preparation, the two following points have been discussed.
a) Rounding of the values of test force: it was decided to keep for this edition the values based on the old unit (kgf). However for the next revision of this European Standard it Is necessary to think about the advantage of introducing rounded values of test force and the consequence on the Brinell scale.
b) Deletion of the steel ball indenter: it was agreed that :
- compared with the steel ball, the hardmetal ball will have a smaller residual deformation leading to a higher reliability of the hardness measurements,
- the hardmetal ball allows a higher number of tests to be carried out at an acceptable cost;
- steel balls complying with the requirement of EN 10003-2 are not readily available;
- the two types of ball give essentially identical results for hardness values up to 350;
- the steel ball is included in the corresponding ISO standard.
For these reasons it was decided to maintain the steel ball in this European Standard but at its next revision only the hard metal ball will be retained.
Users of this European Standard shall take this decision into account.
The standard EN 10003 is valid for metallic materials and comprises the following parts:
Part 1: Metallic materials – BrinelI hardness - Part 1: Test method
Part 2: Metalliic materials – Brinell hardness - Part 2: Verification of Brinell hardness testing machines
Part 3: Metallic materials – Brinell hardness - Pan 3: Calibration standardized blocks to be used for Brinell hardness testing machines
