Durometer Scales – The Basics
Whitepapers On Whiteboard
EXPERT LEVEL:
1 of 5
LENGTH:
4:10
INSTRUCTOR:
Jason Huff
SUMMARY
Today we’re going to talk about durometer of rubber products. Durometer is a measurement of hardness and like other hardness test measures the depth of indentation in the material created by a given Force using a standardized pressure foot. The ASTM D 2240 standard recognizes 12 different durometer scales.
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VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Shore Hardness Scales
Shore OO Durometer Scale:
Shore A Durometer Scale:
Shore D Durometer Scale:
IRHD Durometer Scale:
Important Note For Testing:
One important aspect to note is the test methods used when testing durometer.
When you’re using any of these Shore OO, Shore A , or D, or the IRHD scales, you need to be using a large thick flat piece of rubber. The piece of rubber needs to be a minimum of six mm thick and large enough that all of your measurements can be taken at least 12 mm from the edge of the material. This can create some obstacles when you’re trying to measure small rubber products such as o-rings. Most O-rings don’t have a 6 mm thickness. So if you’re trying to use a Shore A durometer tester on the typical o-ring that’s going to be an incorrect measurement method. It’s not valid.
Shore M Durometer Scale:
In the case that you do need to measure physical parts with small cross sections, you’re going to have to use the shore M durometer scale. Again, you can see that this is a 30 degree cone. It is a little bit smaller diameter than the short D and also would have a different spring force applied to it. But with this scale you can measure samples as little as a 1.25 mm in diameter.
