On the use of hardness tests to estimate the extent of plastic deformation

The standard hardness test result is dependent to some extent on the surface condition of the material being assessed. In particular, since the measurement involves permanent deformation of the surface the state of stress or strain in the material will influence the result. Consequently the hardness test may be used as an indicator of prior plastic deformation. The present investigation was concerned with the phenomenon of buckle propagation in undersea pipelines and a theoretical model of the collapse process was developed. The model predicted the extent of the developing plastic zones around the cross-section of the collapsing pipe. Hardness measurements on the cross-sections of collapsed pipe have been used to estimate the extent of the plastic zones and comparisons with the theoretical analysis are given.