Advancements in Hardness Testing: Heatmapping and the Power of AI-Indentation Evaluation in the Metals Industry

In the ever-evolving field of material sciences, hardness testing is an essential technique for evaluating a metal’s quality—a critical characteristic for industries that rely on durable materials. Traditionally, corresponding applications involved single-point measurements, series measurements, or applications such as CHD measurement, but advances in technology have given rise to hardness mapping, a sophisticated approach that uses thousands of indentations across the sample. The result is a heat map that precisely indicates the areas, or zones, of the sample that are harder or softer. This modern approach has reached the quality control sector in industries such as research institutions, automotive, aerospace, and manufacturing, offering a detailed profile of material properties.

An exciting addition to hardness testing is the integration of AI-based indentation evaluation, which enhances the precision and efficiency of hardness mapping. With AI, machines can now analyze hardness data with improved accuracy, detect exactly the tips of an indentation that might have been incorrect when using traditional automatic contrast detection.