Additions to Mid-West Testing Lab....

For our Galvanized customers, we are now verifying zinc coating weight with the Elcometer 256 Coating Thickness Gauge. Generally, Hot Dipped Galvanized is specified and produced with different coating designations. The added corrosion resistance provided by the protective zinc coating is directly proportional to its thickness and these minimums have been defined in ASTM A-525. Our research has shown that because of the nature of the coating process, zinc may not be evenly distributed from edge to edge or divided equally between the surfaces. These normal distribution variances could have an effect on the application's service life. Our laboratory is now able to verify the actual coating thickness to 0.0001" with the direct reading Elcometer. On a typical sample, three to ten readings are taken on each side of a five square inch sample. The instrument generates a full statistical report including lowest reading, highest reading, mean, and standard deviation.

This additional testing provides an extra measure of assurance that all coated products have the required coating thickness and will perform as expected.