Dr. Nicholas X. Randall is vice president of CSM
Instruments (Needham MA). For more information, call (781) 444-2250, e-mail
[email protected] or visit www.csm-instruments.com.
The new ASTM standard for scratch adhesion testing, ASTM C1624, covers the
determination of the adhesion strength and failure modes of hard, thin ceramic
coatings on metal or ceramic substrates. Scratch testers can be used for
industrial quality control as well as scientific research. They should allow
both lightly skilled operators and more experienced personnel to use the
instrument to characterize the mechanical properties of Physical Vapor
Deposition (PVD) or Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) coatings.