The influences of form errors on hardness performance of Rockwell diamond indenter are discussed. Experimental results are introduced. The Finite Element Analysis (FEA) method is used to simulate the hardness measurement process. The effect of tip radii and cone angles on hardness performance is obtained from our FEA model. It is suggested that FEA could be used to establish a relationship between the microform geometry and the hardness performance of Rockwell indenters, and to predict offsets in hardness readings based on the geometry parameters of the indenter, the testing cycle and the mechanical properties of the testing material.

In the latest revision of the ISO Rockwell hardness test standard (ISO/FDIS 6508(E), 1999), the introductory paragraphs introduce changes to the test practice; one new to this revision, and one suggested as a possibility for the next revision. The change to the new revision is the addition of allowing the use of hardmetal or tungsten-carbide balls for all Rockwell scales that use ball indenters. The change suggested for the next revision is to redefine the standard test forces presently based on rounded kilogram-force values, to converted and rounded Newton values. Since the development of the test method over 80 years ago, an incalculable amount of Rockwell hardness measurements have been made following essentially the same procedures. This paper discusses how these new changes could effect the Rockwell hardness measurement results.

The method for hardness measurement expressed in International Rubber Hardness Degree - IRHD - of rubber and plastics is described in the standard ISO 48. Rising requirements to the accuracy of hardness measurements have led to the result that verification/calibration methods for the testers acknowledged by a standard are needed. Results of these investigations will be used as a basis for the establishment of the relevant international standard which is in preparation. Some experiments for IRHD measurement by "Low-hardness test" - method L and "Microtest" - method M are presented in this paper. Practical measurements with different indenters and variation of other measurement conditions were carried out. For the obtained results regression evaluations were applied to determine the sensitivity coefficients for the influence quantities. Finally, the effects of all influence quantities on the uncertainty of hardness testers and on the calibration uncertainty were calculated and summarized.

Application of software drivers, based on VISA architecture, in Java application and applets is considered. Next, an example of the system, that uses a communication based on sockets for remote controlling HP859x Spectrum Analyser, also via Internet, is presented.

This paper presents a simple example of design, modelling and simulation of a model of the electrical energy consumption based on feedforward neural networks. A database with electrical energy consummated on a year is used to train and to test the neural network. Levenberg-Marquardt method from the neural network toolbox of Matlab was used for training. Good quality criteria were obtained for a prediction for a short term with a simple neural network with only a hidden layer and a reduced number of neurones.