TPT September 2013

Technology News

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. 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. Elcometer 456 digital coating thickness gauge

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.

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

Elcometer Ltd – UK Website: www.elcometer.com

90

www.read-tpt.com

S eptember 2013