Motor sport transmission specialist Xtrac is the first to install one of the UK's most advanced Vickers hardness testing machines at its plant in Finchhampstead
Equipped with a video camera, the computer aided system provides a wide range of testing functions, from semi automatic 'point and click' measurement of indentation diagonals to fully automatic preprogrammed test sequences employing an X-Y table controlled by stepper motor and an automatically focussing Z axis.
Supplied by Indentec, the bench mounted machine is used mainly for checking case depths, case hardnesses and core hardnesses of alloy steel test pieces, most of them to Xtrac's unique specification.
Between 20 and 30 test programmes are made daily on test pieces and sample specimens after heat treatment in computer controlled sealed quench furnaces.
The company says that the Indentec system has improved the speed and ease of hardness testing.
As well as eliminating variances in human reading, the new measuring technology has freed the operator to carry out other duties while automatic testing is in progress.
A key feature of the automatic scanning system is that it accurately identifies and measures impressions on routinely prepared surfaces.
This enabled Xtrac to put the system into service without having to change the preparation of test pieces.
Xtrac, which operates to specifications matching those in the aerospace industry, believes the system has upgraded testing to standards compatible with those throughout the plant with its strong emphasis on Cad/Cam technology.
