Glassy Metals Testing the Vickers Hardness of MoRuB Allyson Feeney Westridge High School

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Glassy MetalsTesting the Vickers Hardness of
MoRuBAllyson FeeneyWestridge High School
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Why Measure Hardness?

• The different types of MoRuB are determined by
  the different levels of Boron in the substance.
  This changes the hardness of the substance. In
  order to find the best substance for the
  interferometer, we are testing the hardness of
  each Boron level.

• MoRuB is a type of Glassy metal combining both
  the traits of glass and the traits of metal-
  strong and flexible.

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The Process

• What is Vickers Hardness?
• Vickers Hardness is a scale used to determine
  the hardness of a substance by its resistance to
  a set amount of weight.
• How does it work?
• A diamond shaped tip is lowered onto a piece of
  metal making an indentation. The size of the
  indentation is then measured. From that, you are
  able to calculate the Vickers Hardness.

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Previous Results

• Previous results show a curve with increasing
  hardness from B-14 to B-17 then a plateau.
• We felt that B-17 would be the best choice for
  our suspension substance because anything with a
  higher Boron level was brittle.

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Problems We Faced

• The data was inaccurate due to human error
• The data could not be replicated
• The surface of the metal was not smooth
• Maintenance problems with the Vickers Hardness
  machine
• The diamond tip used to make indentations would
  fall at different rates

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Problem Solving

• We solved these problems by indenting the metal
  then using a scanning electron microscope to view
  this indentations.
• We still found problems with the surface of the
  metals because the tools used to make the sample
  left imprints on the material.

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Accurate Results

• Because the surface wasnt smooth enough to see a
  good indentation, I sanded each sample with
  different grades of sand paper.
• Then I re-indented each sample and marked the
  indentations with sharpie.

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Accurate Results

• Then I measured the indentation size in the SEM
  images

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Current Data