Streamlined hardness control: testing parts from 40X steel with TKM-459C UCI Universal hardness tester

Customer: large manufacturer of industrial nodes and equipment for heavy industry.

Task: to streamline hardness testing of 40X steel parts of different geometry using HRC scale.

40X steel is a type of structural alloy steel used in manufacturing of high strength metal products: forgings, semi-finished products, sections and steel sheet. It distinguished by its high resistance to wear and corrosion. In addition, steel of this grade is resistant to extreme temperatures (from -40 °C to + 425° C) and can withstand sharp temperature changes.

Current solution: the plant laboratory is equipped with modern stationary Rockwell hardness testers, which are currently used. There is a peculiar requirement for testing with such equipment, which implies arranging equipment configuration for each tested piece type. Obviously, it is quite unreasonable for the customer to produce hundreds of individual tooling sets, as it may disrupt the product release schedule and negatively affect production process in general.

Therefore, it was decided to test the portable hardness tester.

Demonstration: guided by the task requirements, our experts brought the Combined Hardness tester TKM‑459CE combi to the plant and special heads - U-459 and Z-359 designed for curved surfaces. The measurements were carried out with both UCI and Lieb sensors, without and without the nozzles. The measurement results were stable, impressing the participants of the experiment.

Result: the customer decided to purchase the Combined Hardness tester TKM‑459CE combi together with the special head U-459. This portable device will save the manufacture from the need to make many tooling sets while keeping the due quality level of the measurements.

See also: “Test: measuring the hardness between the rotor stages after the hardening.”