An image analysis method was investigated to determine if successful measurements of Knoop and Vickers indentations could be realized. Hopefully, this semiautomated method would eliminate operators' fatigue and thus improve the repeatability and reproducibility associated with the conventional manual optical measurement method.

The specimens included a transverse of Vickers indentations of approximately 50 μm in Cdiagonal length. These indents were measured with both methods, and the results compare the conventional optical method with the image analysis findings.

Another technique of calibrating the image analyzer with a known size indentation rather than with a stage micrometer shows a closer agreement to conventional measurement results.

A second study of Knoop and Vickers indentations of varying sizes, from 25 to 98 μm, shows the different results between the two types of indentations and the subsequent discrepancies experienced.