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Guarantee good adhesion of the coating, and long life of the resulting surface
If the texture profile is too large, the coating amount must increase to avoid the danger of leaving the ‘peak’ texture elements being uncoated, causing eventual rusting. If the texture profile is too low, adhesion may suffer, resulting in bubbles or cracks leading to eventual surface exposure. Using Surface Roughness Testers makes sure your surfaces are well prepared for coating.
Elcometer Surface Roughness Testers
This variety of testers addresses shot, grit & sandblasted surfaces. With this method, we compare blasted surface profiles with pre-defined profile examples by using comparators. Grit shot or sand comparisons are performed but visually comparing and rubbing the compared surfaces. This method is the quickest way to give a good idea of the coating type and consistency needed.
Replica Tape
Testex Press-O-Film Tape Sample contains foam and a non-compressible back strip. The foam is pressed into the surface creating an imprint of the surface speak-to-valley profile.
Test this method using Elcometer 124 Thickness Gauge. Testex Press-O-Film Tape can be purchased in three profile ranges. It is important to choose the right tape grade for the profile being measured, because using the wrong profile (below the actual value) may give an incorrect reading.
Surface Profile Gauges
The height of the profile (measured from the peaks to the troughs) determines aspects such as adhesion, coverage, and overall volume of coating used. A Surface Comparator is used as a very quick guide to compare freshly blasted profiles to pre-defined profiles.
The standard Surface Comparators are available as either grit, shot, or sand. A Surface Profile Replica Tape (Testex Tape) is used to compress against a roughened material to replicate details of its surface roughness and is then used with a Thickness Gauge to measure the peak-to-valley height of a surface profile. Try this testing method using Elcometer 224 and this Dual Element Thickness Transducer.
Surface Roughness Testers
A Surface Roughness Tester evaluates blasted surface roughness over a defined distance, measuring peak-to-valley average.
Readings of surface roughness are expressed using the terms of Ra, Rz, or Tp. These measurements represent peak-to-valley profile analysis and evaluation of how frequent peaks are in the given area. The Elcometer 7061 surface roughness tester is a portable, lightweight, and highly effective measuring tool for surface texture measurements, in compliance with International Standards. Try Elcometer 7061 here.
