scope:

This standard provides an overview of the methods used for testing the hardness of plastics and elastomers. The individual methods are each given a brief description. The supplementary information contains information about special aspects of the methods, and the advantages and disadvantages of the methods are also covered here. This means that information about the capabilities of the individual methods can be accessed quickly and selecting a suitable test method for a particular testing task is facilitated. This standard is additional to other standards of hardness testing. Where several standards are mentioned in association with some of the test methods, it should be noted that differences at the detailed level are possible which could affect the test result.

The descriptions include:

• standardized hardness test methods
• non-standardized hardness test methods which have found wide application in practice