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Coating Thickness Gauges and
Adhesion
Testers
Coating thickness gauges are important in making sure that you
end up with a high quality finish. No matter what you are working
on, the proper application of coatings is extremely critical to the
overall quality of the finished product. The following article
discusses in some detail the importance of using a coating thickness
gauges, especially when applying paint.
A coating thickness gauges is a non contact and non destructive way
to measure the amount of coating that has been placed on a surface.
These measurement coating thickness gauges are often used in
production lines and manufacturing factories to make sure that the
production of items and the application of coatings is accurate. The
system work by continuously monitoring the coating thickness of the
material on the coating thickness gauges.
The first question that many people ask is why. Why do you need to
bother measuring the thickness of the coating by using a coating
thickness gauge? Well, to answer this question on coating thickness
gauges, you should ask yourself another question. Why are you
painting at all? There are a variety of reasons you may be paining,
but your answer is likely to be one of the following:
- To protect the substrate from corroding in the future
- To make sure the finished product looks appealing to the eye, and
nice to look at.
- To make the product blend into the background (or maybe to make it
stand out from the background)
- To provide a surface finish which acts as part as the
functionality of the product.
Whether you are painting for one of these reasons, or another,
applying a coating to a product is expensive – most especially if
you get it wrong! For instance, if you apply too much paint to the
substrate, you can cause the coating to crack as it dries, leaving
you with an undesirable finished look, and probably ruined your
product. If you apply too little paint, it might not sufficiently
cover over the surface of the product, and you’ll have to apply
another coat. If you use a coating thickness gauge, you can measure
as you go along, making sure you are applying just the right amount
of coating. By using a coating thickness gauge you can be assured
that your products finish will last for many years to come.
If you’re using too much or too little paint, your profits are going
to be affected, and of course the performance of the coating will be
diminished. You are applying a paint coating for a specific purpose.
Applying too much or too little will make it unsuccessful in
fulfilling this purpose. So make sure you make good use of a coating
thickness gauges. Not using any coating thickness gauges will also
affect your productivity. You are wasting unnecessary time and
resources by using too much paint, and if you use too little, then
you’re wasting even more time because you have to apply a whole coat
all over again. A coating thickness gauges will ensure that you are
using just the right amount of pain, allowing you to cover the
surfaces you need to much more quickly and successfully, meaning you
can quickly move onto the next product.
By using coating thickness gauges you will not only save your
business money but you will also avoid making the mistake of having
an improper cover on your product. Make sure that you look into
purchasing a few coating thickness gauges for yourself soon!
Adhesion testers are used to measure how resistant
a coating is – in other words, how easy it is to separate it from
the substrate it has been applied to, when a force is put on to it.
Coating substrates are most often materials such as plastics, wood,
concrete, metals and glass. The coatings, linings and finishing
applied to these all vary greatly, but some of the materials that
are used include paint films, UV cures, powder coatings, bitumens
(for example asphalt mastics and tar enamel), ceramics, epoxies,
laminates, thermoplastic resins (for example, polyethylene, vinyl
and plastisols), lacquers, specialty resins (including urethanes,
flurocarbons, polyesters and phenolics), elastomerics, varnishes and
inorganics (including the likes of zinc, glass and lead). This is a
very long list of materials that an adhesion tester can be used on,
but is not exhaustive of all the types of coatings that can be
applied to a surface. An adhesion tester can be used to test the
resistance and strength of any types of these coatings.
When it comes to an adhesion tester, there is a distinct lack
industry criterion that have been defined for what is required for a
coating to pass or fail. The expected and desired results of
adhesion testers are usually defined by the individual needs and
wants of the party involved. Different adhesion testers have
different standards of accuracy and repeatability. Because of this,
occasional large differentiations between adhesion testers have been
known to occur across varying equipment and different manufacturers.
To try and combat this problem and minimize the likelihood of
getting these undesired discrepancies in the adhesion testers’
results, it is critical that you make use of an adhesion tester that
is programmed to minimize sheer forces. This means an adhesion
tester that minimizes the forces that are acting parallel to the
coating, as opposed to perpendicular. A recommended make of adhesion
testers is the PosiTest AT series, which is specifically designed to
minimize these parallel forces. This brand of adhesion testers make
use of feature that self aligns, which utilizes a spherical shaped
moving dolly head. This makes sure that the adhesion testers are
always pulled vertically by rings of small bearings, in order to
give the most accurate results.
Adhesion testers need to be used in order to perform quality control
checks, to make sure that coatings are strong enough and are not
going to be damaged by the levels of exertion that they are going to
be susceptible to. These sorts of checks will be carried out in
order to adhere to industry standards and specific customer wants
and needs. Depending on the application of coating, and the surface
it is applied to, the exact requirements for how often adhesion
testers need to be used and how often it needs to be maintained is
likely to vary. The types of products that have been coated may vary
from a small scale consumer project to a large scale construction
built, but no matter how big or small the project is, adhesion
testers can still be used to make sure that the applied coating
meets the requirements.
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