Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 January 2011
An apparatus was constructed that measured hardness under load. The instrument measured hardness using a strain-gauge load cell and a linear voltage displacement transducer. Loading rates were less than 1 μm/s. Results were similar to the results of other electronic hardness measurement devices, in that the hardness fell with increasing load. Glasses measured have Meyers indexes from 1.6 to 1.75, while polycrystalline materials showed much more complex behaviors. A model was formulated to explain the data for glasses based on expansion of shear planes.