It is well established that the indentation hardness of metallic alloys shows a reasonable correlation with their yield strength or ultimate strength. Experiments illustrate that such a unique correlation is nonexistent for discontinuously reinforced metal matrix composites, even when the indentation size is much greater than the reinforcement size. For aluminum alloys reinforced with silicon carbide particles, the same composite yield strength and tensile strength with different reinforcement fractions do not lead to similar hardness, or vice versa. Finite element analyses are carried out to rationalize the experimental findings. The modeling utilizes a two-dimensional plane-strain formulation. Discrete particles are included in the material model, and the overall stress-strain response and the indentation response are numerically simulated. The results confirm the lack of unique correspondence between the composite hardness and strength. The alteration of local heterogeneity in the composite is found to affect the indentation response. Effects of the geometrical arrangement of particles and thermal residual stresses on the indentation response are also investigated numerically. (C) 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers.