What is the Use of a Coating Thickness Gauge?
Thickness gauges are very widely and regularly used in manufacturing industries. They are used in determining the gauge or thickness of a material. Many types of gauges are there and each of them has a different function. It is mainly based on the intended application of the gauge. They are
- Material thickness gauges
- Wire and sheet metal thickness gauges
- Coating thickness gauges
The first is used for gauging the material thickness by mechanical means. You need to close a calibrated instrument around the sample until contact is made with both sides of the material. In Steel Manufacturing and Iron Manufacturing industries, these gauges are widely used.
The second type of gauge is a simple mechanical device. It can be used for measuring the thickness of wire and sheet metal. In a wire or sheet metal manufacturing industry, or in the Metal Products Manufacturing industry, this gauge is useful.
The third category is what we are going to talk about in this blog. It is designed to measure the thickness of coatings applied to a surface. That is the reason, it is called a coating thickness gauge.
What are the Applications of Coating Thickness Gauges?
In some applications, there is a need to measure the thickness of a coating. For example, paint applied on paint or insulation applied on a cable. Here, other gauges like material thickness gauges are not useful. Only coating thickness gauges (sometimes referred to as paint meters) can be useful in this case. It assures that the coating complies with the required standards.
Among them, two types of coating thickness gauges are popular. The simpler of them is a process where the gauge pierces through the dry coating down to the substance and establishes the coating thickness directly. The wet gauges measure the thickness before the coating dries.
However, in this case, the integrity of the coating of the material is compromised.
The second type of coating thickness gauge is the non-destructive type. They use many methods to achieve that, but the most widely used is the use of ultrasonic waves. It uses an ultrasonic transducer, which emits a pulse of sound wave energy into the coating. When it hits the material boundary, a reflection occurs and sends a return pulse back to the transducer. The time difference is measured, and the thickness of the coating is established.
A magnetic thickness gauge determines the thickness by using a magnetic field. It uses an estimate of the force required to pull a magnet away from the coated substrate to measure the thickness.
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