Hardness Testing:

          After heat treating the links, they need to be tested in order to determine how hard they are. The requirement of 65 on the Rockwell C Scale was selected as that is the hardness required to resist cutting from a hacksaw. The heat treating was donated by Pacific Metallurgical Inc. and as such no specific details were given regarding the process of the heat treatment. The hardness testers were supplied by the Central Washington University Engineering department. All hardness testing complied with ASTM E18.

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Bolt Cutter Testing:

        The results of the bolt cutter testing were not qauntitative values, but instead resulted in a pass or fail. The test was considered successful if a set of bolt cutters could not cut through the links in under eight hours. This was attempted by attempting the cut the links with the bolt cutters and recording observations every ten minutes. At the end of a half an hour the total depth of cut was recorded and used the calculate the total time required to cut through the links. 

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Hacksaw Testing:

        The hacksaw testing procedure was similar to that of the bolt cutter testing. The part was placed in a rigid table and a hacksaw was used to try to cut the link with observations being recorded every ten minutes. 

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Prybar/Screwdriver Testing:

        The prybar and screwdriver testing is to determine that these tools could not be used to pry the links apart at the joints. This required simply placing one link in a rigid clamp and then attemping to create leverage between the two links at the joint. 

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