It might not seem like scraping the top of a cold stick of butter with a knife could be a scientific test, but engineers say the process is very similar to the "scratch test," which is perhaps the ...

Photo by MSVG/Flickr Gorilla Glass: harder than keys, not as tough as gravity. During a vacation earlier this month, my wife and I put our smartphones in a big, loose beach bag, the kind with bamboo ...

• Engineers can use hardness testing to verify the composition or heat-treatment history of materials. • Rockwell, Brinell, Vickers, and Shore are common hardness tests. Their use depends on the ...