Abstract: The tensile properties of 16MnR steel were measured by means of ball indentation test,and were compared with those got from conventional tensile test. The results show that the tensile properties of experimental steel can be accurately and semi-nondestructively measured through the ball indentation technology. The tensile properties obtained from ball indentation test show good agreement with those from the conventional tensile test,and the bigest differences were 6.8% and 1.9% for yield strength and tensile strength,respectively.