ABRASION TESTING

Falling Sand Tester

As the name indicates, the falling sand tester measures the abrasion resistance of paint or other coatings to falling sand. The work is performed according to ASTM D 968. Quartz sand with a specific grain size is poured through a funnel and guide tube to impinge on a test plate. Typically this test is used to determine the abrasion resistance of a painted surface. Because it is essentially a MOHs test, it can be adapted to determine relative wear resistance of many materials by varying the size and hardness of the abrasive used. For instance, wear resistance of polymer composite panels can be evaluated using the falling sand method.

Air Blast Abrasion Tester

Air Blast Abrasive test is performed under ASTM D 658. It employs a particular size of SiC abrasive that passes from a hopper through a guide tube under specified air flow and pressure to impinge onto the specimen. Since the abrasive flow is facilitated with an air blast, the abrasion rate is markedly greater than that obtainable with a free-falling abrasive. The air flow is adjusted to the specified pressure and the stream of abrasive is released and allowed to flow until the coating is worn through to the substrate.

Taber Abraser

The Taber Abaser measures the resistance of organic coatings applied to a plane, rigid surface such as a metal panel. The surface of the organic coating is abraded by rotating the panel under weighted abrasive wheels. This procedure is described in ASTM D 4060. Commonly used for determination of abrasion resistance of painted surfaces, this procedure has been used on polymer composites used by the petroleum industry and the space industry. Abrasive wheels range from very soft rubber matrix with silica abrasives to very hard ceramic abrasive wheels.

Custom Abrasion Testing

Touchstone has, in-house, equipment which can be set up to reproduce a wide array of abrasive use conditions. Moving samples can be tested in contact with various abrasives at a wide array of speeds, orientations, and contact pressures.