Ball indentation tests have been used to estimate the mechanical properties of materials by several investigators. In this study, load-depth curves from ball indentation tests were analyzed using the geometric conditions of the contact between ball and specimen. A series of numerical calculations and experimental results showed that the contact load-depth curves could be simplified by linear functions. Once we obtained the contact indentation depth from linearizing the experimental indentation curves, the estimation process of the flow properties became straight-forward and the scatter of results could be drastically reduced.