Hardness tester

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9417171-B2
Application number	US-201313828164-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 14, 2013
Priority date	Mar 27, 2012
Publication date	Aug 16, 2016
Grant date	Aug 16, 2016

Abstract

A hardness tester capable of facilitating positioning of a sample even when the hardness tester includes a manual XY stage. The hardness tester includes an XY stage displacing a sample stage in a horizontal direction; a CCD camera capturing an image of a sample surface via an objective lens; a monitor displaying the image of the sample surface captured by the CCD camera; an operator specifying a test position at which an indentation is to be formed, the test position being specified on the image displayed on the display; and a CPU calculating, in conjunction with displacement of the XY stage, an amount of offset in the XY direction between the test position and a center position of the indenter when forming the indentation, then displaying the calculated amount of offset on the display.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A hardness tester measuring hardness of a sample placed on a sample stage by loading a predetermined test force on a surface of the sample with an indenter to form an indentation in the surface, then measuring dimensions of the indentation, the hardness tester comprising:
an XY stage configured to displace the sample stage in a horizontal direction;
an image capturer configured to capture an image of the surface of the sample via a objective lens;
a display configured to display the image of the surface of the sample captured by the image capturer;
a test position specifier configured to specify a test position at which the indentation is to be formed, the test position being specifiable on the image displayed on the display; and
a controller configured to calculate, in conjunction with displacement of the XY stage, an amount of offset in the horizontal direction between the test position and a center position of the indenter when forming the indentation, then to display the calculated amount of offset on the display.

2. The hardness tester according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to cause a notifier to perform notification of proximity in a distance between the test position and the center position of the indenter, based on the calculated amount of offset.

3. The hardness tester according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to cause the notifier to perform notification that the test position has reached the center position of the indenter when the calculated amount of offset is zero.

4. The hardness tester according to claim 2 , wherein the controller is further configured to cause the notifier to perform notification that the test position has reached the center position of the indenter when the calculated amount of offset is zero.

5. The hardness tester according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to cause the notifier to perform notification that displacement is in an opposite direction when the controller determines that the test position is moving away from the center position of the indenter, based on the calculated amount of offset.

6. The hardness tester according to claim 2 , wherein the controller is further configured to cause the notifier to perform notification that displacement is in an opposite direction when the controller determines that the test position is moving away from the center position of the indenter, based on the calculated amount of offset.

7. The hardness tester according to claim 3 , wherein the controller is further configured to cause the notifier to perform notification that displacement is in an opposite direction when the controller determines that the test position is moving away from the center position of the indenter, based on the calculated amount of offset.

8. The hardness tester according to claim 4 , wherein the controller is further configured to cause the notifier to perform notification that displacement is in an opposite direction when the controller determines that the test position is moving away from the center position of the indenter, based on the calculated amount of offset.

Assignees

• Mitutoyo Corp

Inventors

• Takemura Fumihiro
• Koshimizu Fumihiko

Classifications

• G01N2203/008

  Residual indentation measurement · CPC title

• G01N3/42 Primary

  by performing impressions under a steady load by indentors, e.g. sphere, pyramid (G01N3/54 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01N2203/0019

  Compressive · CPC title

• G01N2203/0003

  Steady · CPC title