New hand-held for hardness testing of thin coatings

New hand-held for hardness testing of thin coatings

Keywords: Coatings

Indentec has introduced a special range of hand-held hardness testers to solve problems in testing thin layers and light-weight components.

The company's latest HT-1000C and HT-2000C instruments are said to be particularly suitable for checking hardened surfaces, coated surfaces from 0.2 mm thick upwards, and thin-walled and impact-sensitive specimens.

They join Indentec's established series of pocket-sized portables for determining the hardness of components difficult or too large or too remote to test on bench machines.

All the systems have a built-in display showing hardness, test scale, time,date, material tested, number of tests, running average hardness and direction of testing.

Up to 200 test results are stored by the software, which also generates displays of ultimate tensile strength in pounds (lb) and metric format.

Providing on-the-spot readings and print-outs, the instrument employs the Leeb impact principle. Hardness is calculated to ± 0.5 per cent accuracy by comparing the approach and rebound velocities of a tungsten-carbide ball fired at the test surface.

It can be applied from any direction including upside down to test any metal to any popular hardness scale.

Data can also be recorded on hard copy by a matching printer. To ensure portability, data transmission is by infrared signals.

To save battery power, the instrument shuts off automatically if it is out of use for a minute. Up to 40 hours continuous testing can be obtained from the tester's batteries and 6,000 printed lines from the printer batteries.

For more information contact Indentec Hardness Testing Machines Ltd, Lye Valley Industrial Estate, Bromley Street, Lye, Stourbridge, West Midlands DY9 8HX, UK. Tel: +44 1384 896949.