Portable Hardness Testers

Portable hardness testing verifies heat treatment, confirms material grade and checks for in-service hardening on components too large or too fixed to bring to a bench tester. Three methods cover most New Zealand work, and choosing between them comes down to the part rather than the budget. 

Leeb rebound testing is the fastest and suits heavy sections - castings, forgings, large weldments. The instrument fires an impact body at the surface and measures rebound velocity, so it needs sufficient mass behind the test point to give a valid reading. Our QualiTip Plus, QualiTip II-Plus and QualiTip III Portable Hardness Testers all work this way, differing in material range and display. 

UCI ultrasonic testing works where Leeb does not: thin sections, small parts, hardened surface layers and anything where the component is too light to give a clean rebound. The UCI-1100H Portable Ultrasonic Durometer Hardness Tester and UCI-4000 Dynasonic Leeb Ultrasonic Hardness Tester cover manual application, while the Motorised UCI-4100DH Leeb Ultrasonic Hardness Tester and Portable Motorised Leeb Ultrasonic Hardness Tester UCI-4100DM apply consistent load automatically, which removes most of the operator variability the method is known for. 

Webster testers take a different approach again, using a mechanical clamp calibrated for one material. The Model B-75 covers mild steel and brass, the Model BB-75 is for copper, and the Model B suits aluminium alloys and extrusions. For rigid plastics and composites, our Barcol testers apply the same principle to non-metals. 

Supplied by quote. Free shipping throughout New Zealand.