Hardness tester and method for hardness test

A hardness tester for measuring hardness of a sample by forming an indentation in a surface of the sample by loading a predetermined test force on an indenter and measuring a dimension of the indentation, the hardness tester comprising:

• a data obtainer configured to obtain sample shape data that can specify a shape of the sample;
• an image capture controller configured to control an image capturer to capture an image of the surface of the sample and further configured to obtain image data of the sample;
• a matching performer configured to associate the sample shape data obtained by the data obtainer with the image data of the sample obtained by the image capturer;
• an indentation former configured to form the indentation with the indenter in a test position set on the sample shape data after the sample shape data and the image data of the sample have been associated by the matching performer;
• and
• a hardness value calculator configured to calculate a hardness value of the sample based on the indentation captured with the image capturer after the indentation has been formed by the indentation former.