Introduction - BAQ kaloMAX Manual

BAQ kaloMAX Manual

1 Introduction

The kaloMAX is a spherical cap grinder for the determination of the layer thickness of coatings
and layer systems.
A steel ball lies on a revolving shaft and also on the angular positioned sample. A small
spherical cap is ground through the layer on the sample into the base material by means of the
ball and a little abrasive slurry. On plane samples, the cap is circular. The layer thickness can
be calculated from the difference of the cap diameter at the surface of the sample and the
diameter of the boundary between layer and base material. These diameters can be measured
with a microscope. The diameter of the grinding ball, which goes into the calculation, is
known. This purely geometrical method for determination of layer thickness can be extended
to layer systems.
Because most layers are in the range of µm, the spherical caps are very small. To obtain clearly
visible limits, great importance was attached to the guidance of the ball on the driveshaft and
to the bearing of the shaft, so that horizontal and vertical movements of the ball during the
grinding cycle are avoided.
Different combinations of revolutions per minute and grinding period can be saved under a
program number. This allows quick and reproducible measurements on different types of
layers.
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