The Shore hardness tester determines the indentation hardness of a material by measuring its resistance to deformation. A and D are the two most commonly used scales, which are typically used for quality control and empirical testing in research and development, rather than for studying material properties.

Most Shore hardness tests are conducted on standard and vulcanized rubber, thermoplastic elastomer, gel and plastic. Before measuring any of these materials, it is necessary to refer to the Shore reference table, as some materials are more suitable for the Shore method than A and D.

This application study uses a relaxed method based on the standard DIN ISO 7619-1, but to fully comply with this standard, users need to refer to the standard itself.