In the industrial field, importance is given to the quality of the product that is going to be distributed; for this reason, a series of tests are carried out to determine the properties of these objects, such as malleability or resistance. Plastics, metals, crystals, and minerals are tested to determine how hard they are; It should be mentioned that hardness is that physical property that establishes the opposition of materials to any type of surface modification, such as scratching, cuts and abrasion. Considered a function of elasticity and stiffness, hardness is a difficult property to define.
For this, various methods have been designed, among which the Shore Hardness stands out, in which a machine similar to a weight is used, and whose results are expressed with the same name of the test; in addition to the hardness to the ball, in which a constant preload is applied on a steel ball, to later increase it to that corresponding to the test. However, one of the most interesting and used is that of Dureza barcol. This applies to materials that are made of plastics -without taking into account whether they are reinforced or not-, aluminum alloys, low-hardness metals, such as lead and bronze, as well as leather and rubber.
The artifact used in this process is known as a durometer or Barcol meter and consists of a cone-shaped indenter or perforator, which also has an angle of 26 ° and a base diameter of 0.157 mm. The minimum number of repetitions of the test will be established with the initial hardness value obtained, the measurement is always taken instantly.
