Useful Information on Ultrasonic Coating Thickness Measurement

The ultrasonic coating thickness gauge is suitable for measuring polymer coatings such as
paint, lacquer and plastics on plastics, ceramics, glass, metal and wood.

Accurate measurements with ultrasonic is possible under the following conditions:

• a good sound transmission through the coating materials

• a clear sound echo from each interface of the different layers
• knowledge of the number of layers
• nature of the individual layers
• nature of substrate material
• approximate or estimated layer thick-ness

Basic measurement principle: A transducer sends out a Ultrasonic

sound impulse which penetrates through a coupling gel into Probe
the coatings. At each interface, the sound impulse is Layer 1
reflected and the elapsed times back to the transducer is Layer 2
used as a measure for coating thickness. Layer 3
To determine coating thickness, the average sound velocity
in polymers is used which usually is 2,375 m/s. The actual Substrate
sound velocity in paints and lacquers may differ by 10%
from this value. For high-precision measurements, the E = penetrating pulse
gauge may be calibrated to the relevant materials by using R = reflected pulse

measuring standards.

Prerequisite for separating different layers of a multi-coating system is that the impedance
values of the different layers vary by at least 10%. As „wet-on-wet“ coatings may lead to
form non clear interfaces between the coatings the sound echoes may not be clearly
evaluated.

The acoustical impedance as a value resulting from density and sound velocity of a coating
material can be determined as follows:
 Kg m 
Z = ρ ⋅V  
 m³ s 

ρ = density of coating material M (rho)

V = sound velocity in the coating material

How to proceed if the number of layers and expected coating thickness are unknown:

1. Set instrument for measurement of one layer. The instrument will display paint coatings
on metals as one combined thickness for the total thickness of all layers. Paint coatings
on plastics and wood will be displayed down to the strongest echo, i.e. layers beyond this
layer with the strongest echo will not be measured.
2. Same procedure but instrument will be set to two layers.
3. Same procedure with instrument setting of three layers.
By setting the instrument for one, two or three coatings, the number of coatings and their
thickness can be measured. In most cases, the QuintSonic measures accurately single and
multi-layer coatings with an accuracy of 5% to 10% of reading. To obtain more accurate
readings than 5%, reference standards for calibration must be produced from a customer
sample.

Verifying customer samples

In some cases it may become necessary to test customer samples in our laboratory free of
charge:

1. Testing the suitability of the ultrasonic measuring principle for the customer’s
application. For this test we need to know the following information:

• number of layers
• substrate material
• coatings materials
• approx. coating thickness of each individual layer

Based on the above information we will be able to calibrate the QuintSonic gauge for the
particular application.

2. Free of charge calibration standard which is manufactured from a customer’s cross cut

3. Micrograph verification: Elektro-Physik supplies a certified calibration standard based

on the customer sample.

This certified calibration standard includes the following documents:

• microscopic verification of the individual coatings

• colour print-out of the cross section
• certified test report

Service:
Cross-cut test of samples 51,00 €
1st Cross-cut test will be made free of charge, the charges for the 2nd - 5th cross-cut test
can be deducted from the price of QuintSonic in case of an order.