Vickers hardness test is performed by forcing a diamond pyramid indenter of specified size and shape under the application of known force to produce an indentation in the material. The test force varies from 49.03N (5kgf) to 980.7N (100kgf). The diagonal length of the indentation is measured after removal of the force and the hardness is calculated. Most of the modern machines can indicate direct hardness values without a need of manual measurement of indentation.

The Vickers hardness test can be performed on the range of materials ranging from softest to the hardest. The VPN – Vickers Pyramid Number can be used as universal hardness number to relate hardness to other hardness measuring units. AS 1817, ISO 6507 and ASTM E92 are some of the common standard test methods.