TPT September 2013

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Technology News
90 September 2013
Coating thickness gauges
THE Elcometer 456 coating thickness
gauge enables users to automatically
compare thickness values to a coating’s
specification, display trend graphs, and
store time and date stamped thickness
readings into memory. The gauges can
transfer data wirelessly to a mobile cell
phone, recording the GPS coordinates
of precisely where the measurement
was taken.
Standards and test methods typically
require inspectors to take a number
of individual spot measurements over
the coated surface. While gauge
measurement speeds have increased
significantly (almost doubling to in
excess of 70 readings per minute in the
new Elcometer 456), it is the historical
design of a coating thickness gauge that
has determined the time taken for an
inspector to carry out a coating thickness
inspection, as the gauge requires the
probe to be lifted off the surface in
between each measurement.
Elcometer’s new Ultra/Scan probes
for the Elcometer 456 coating thickness
gauges not only allow inspectors to
drag the probe across a coated surface
without damaging the probe or the
coating, but also increase the reading
rate of the gauge to in excess of 140
readings per minute, speeding up the
measurement of a coated ferrous or
non-ferrous metal substrate.
Each Ultra/Scan probe has been
designed to take a ‘snap on’ replaceable
end cap, so that the sliding action
required to achieve a scan of a coated
surface does not cause any wear to the
probe tip – crucial to maintaining the
accuracy of the probe over its life.
Using the Elcometer 456’s patented
offset feature, the thickness of the cap
is excluded from any coating thickness
measurement and, as the cap wears
during use, this wear effect is also
accounted for. The gauge displays a
warning message when the wear cap
needs to be replaced.
Elcometer Ltd – UK
Website:
Elcometer 456
digital coating
thickness gauge