Abstract
IT is almost instinctive to assess the strengths of solids by scratching their surfaces and observing the response. This so-called scratch test has been used by mineralogists for many centuries and an empirical scale of “scratch-hardness” was developed by the Austrian mineralogist Mohs in 1824 (ref. 1) which is still very useful today. Mohs selected ten minerals and proposed a scale such that each mineral will scratch the one on the scale below it, but will not scratch the one above it.
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References
Bowden, F. P., and Tabor, D., The Friction and Lubrication of Solids, 2 (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1964).
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Wilshaw, T. R., J. Amer. Ceram. Soc. (in the press).
Hamilton, G. M., and Goodman, L. E., J. Appl. Mech., 33, 371 (1966).
Lawn, B. R., Proc. Roy. Soc. A., 299, 307 (1967).
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WILSHAW, T., ROTHWELL, R. Instrumented Scratch Test for measuring the Fracture Behaviour of Strong Solids. Nature Physical Science 229, 155–157 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1038/physci229155a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/physci229155a0
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