For compliance with best mechanical practice, car coatings must be applied in several layers whose compounded thickness remains consistent, durable and safe. In recent years this process and results have been automated and improved on past painting methods. One thickness test can be used to ensure painted car components remain beautiful and fit for use. NDT Australia can help your automotive assembly business speed up and improve your automotive painting process with our ultrasonic thickness gauges. Read up on the method here.
How Is Automotive Paint Applied?
Auto paint shops and manufacturers use up to five coats when painting a vehicle, depending on the brand and colour. The paint coat is generally comprised of an e-coat, primer, base coat and clean coat on a metal surface. Some high-quality paint jobs involve the use of a ‘Mica’ layer to give pearlescence too. To comply with testing requirements, each additional paint layer must be measured when necessary and this process is tedious and time consuming. This common sentiment is further substantiated by the fact that there may be up to 100 inspection points on a car. When you consider the time taken to spray or dip an entire vehicle’s components five times, speeding the process up can become important.
How Does NDT Measure Paint Thickness?
Non-destructive testing used to measure thickness uses ultrasonic thickness testing technology. The premise of the equipment is measurement of time against a sound wave. The gradient is equivalent to the thickness of a test object. A transmitter emits an ultrasonic sound wave and the time taken for the wave to pass through an object, rebound on the object wall and come back to a receiver is measured. Testing equipment displays a readout of the thickness of the test object and even the thickness of individual layers contained within it.
Can NDT Australia Help You Test Paint Thickness?
Yes. NDT Australia sells a vast variety of ultrasonic thickness gauges. Our products are designed for a range of applications, including testing paint thickness. We recommend our SIUI Smartor Ultrasonic Flaw Detector and Thickness Gauge for testing automotive paint thickness. The device uses a benchmark to identify flaws in your vehicle’s paint coating and can also be programmed to evaluate and display the thickness of individual layers of paint used in the vehicle’s coat.
Contact NDT Australia
If you are looking for non-destructive ultrasonic thickness testing equipment, check out NDT Australia’s online store. We supply a range of NDT technology, including ultrasonic thickness testing equipment across Australia. We are open for business Monday to Friday, 7:30am to 4:00pm. Contact our friendly sales team on (02) 9524 0558 to ask any questions or to place an order for any of the products listed on our online store.
