Modeling of Temperature-Dependent Hardness for Pure FCC and HCP Metals

Abstract

In this study, a theoretical model is developed to characterize the quantitative effect of temperature on the hardness of pure FCC and HCP metals. The model is verified by comparison with the available experimental results of Cu, Al, Zn, Mg, Be, Zr, Ni, Ir, Rh, and Ti at different temperatures. Compared with the widely quoted Westbrook model and Ito–Shishokin model which need piecewise fitting to describe experimental values, the present model merely needs two hardness values at different temperatures to predict the experimental results, reducing reliance on conducting lots of experiments. This work provides a convenient method to predict temperature-dependent hardness of pure metals, and it is worth noting that it can be applied to a wide temperature range from absolute zero to melting point.