Further – (continued on Shore Hardness)
The penetrator is in the form of a truncated cone. By deflecting a leaf spring with calibrated stiffness characteristics, the resistance against penetration of the cone can be measured. At a theoretical shore A hardness of 100, an extremely hard material,the spring is compressed to its maximum position without any penetration of the truncated cone.The spring loading is then 822 g. At a theoretical shore A hardness of 0, an extremely soft material, the loading of the spring is 56 g. Intermediate values ate obtained by linear interpolation. The hardness is related to Young’s modulus. In order to obtain reproducible hardness values, the following device constants have been defined:1) Characteristic of the spring. 2) The cone angle of the penetrator and the diameters on both planes of the truncated cone. 3) The free length of the protruding pin.
(From Rubber Technology HandBook –Werner Hofmann)
Koshy