One of the most common requests we receive at our office is from confused customers in need of a portable hardness tester for use in the field. In Houston, where we are based, that usually means a chemical plant, refinery or a pipeline related application. Unlike NDT equipment, where a specific method tends to stand out based on the location of suspected anomalies, portable hardness testing lacks that well defined, clear path due to the number of variables affecting the results obtained. 

The purpose of this article is to shed some light on the various styles of portable testers and the pros and cons of each. This is a 10,000 foot view of the various methods we encounter in this region. It is not meant to select a superior test method or to analyze the effectiveness of a given tester. There is a reason that all of these test methods are used; they are all effective for their specific application(s).