Case Depth Report

[gblanchard]

General question. Is there such a thing as a generally-accepted format for recording and reporting case depth analyses as determined by microhardness traverse? Conversely, is there a recommended electronic/software solution for recording and saving such data with report generation when needed for customers?

 

[Guest102023]

Probably there is. In my practice (admittedly infrequent) I use a spreadsheet to tabulate and then make a simple plot of hardness vs. depth from surface. You can superimpose a horizontal line which represents your required minimum.

 

[TVP]

Yes, the generally accepted format is to plot hardness vs. depth below the surface using a scatter plot type of graph. Possible additions are smoothed or continuous lines connecting the data points, horizontal construction lines demarcating minimum and/or maximum hardness requirements, and vertical construction lines showing minimum and maximum depths for achieving the hardness requirements. Similar to brimstoner, and presumably most practitioners, I just use a spreadsheet. Higher-end microhardness testers such as the Tukon 2100 from Wilson have automated analysis packages that will output the data, but I have never used this feature.