Barcol Hardness Testing And Its Applications
What is Barcol Hardness Testing?
Barcol Hardness Testing is a method of measuring the hardness of reinforced and non-reinforced rigid plastics. The hardness value is arrived at by assessing the plastic materials resistance to being penetrated by the indenter.
How is the Barcol Hardness Testing done?
The Barcol Hardness test is carried out with the help of a Barcol Impresser or a Barcol Hardness Tester. Each Barcol Impressor essentially consists of a sharp steel point indenter attached beneath a spring load and a 0 to 100 weighing scale to take the readings.
Different user-friendly Barcol Tester models are available these days. The portable models are extremely lightweight and easy to handle. The digital models available give accurate readings, which are immediately indicated on the dial.
The method of determining hardness is the same and that irrespective of the model. During the test, the plastic sampling to be tested is placed just below the steel indenter of the Barcol Tester and a uniform pressure is applied on it until the dial indicator touches a stable maximum. The scale giving a direct reading of the depth of the penetration transforms it into definite Barcol numbers.
Applications of Barcol Hardness Testing
Barcol Hardness Testing has many commercial and industrial applications. Initially Barcol Hardness Testing was undertaken to measure the degree of cure of plastics and of resins; but now different industrial raw materials and products like Aluminum, Copper, Fiberglass, Leather, Rubber, Aluminum/Fiberglass panels, etc. are tested by this method.
Of course, you will need different Barcol Hardness Testers for different purposes. Thus, Model GYZJ 934-1 is used to measure the hardness of soft metals such as aluminum and its alloys, brass, copper, hard plastics and even fiberglass. GYZJ 934-1-0-1, a flat bottom modification of 934-1, is used for field-testing of final products like a fire department ladder (especially after it has been exposed to high-temperatures).
Model GYZJ 935 is used to measure the hardness of soft plastics and very soft metals. GYZJ 936, likewise, is ideal for assessing extremely soft materials such as lead, linoleum and leather.
Digital Barcol Hardness Testers are used to measure hardness of aluminum, duro plastics, glass-reinforced plastics, hard thermo plastics, semi-finished and finished products, etc. Most Digital models have enough memory to store the results of Barcol Hardness Testing.
About the Author
Allen is a successful writer and publisher of Hardness Tester related issues, for more informative articles go to www.hardnesstesters.info
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