Hardness Tester Enhances Materials Quality Control

Marshall Vehicle Engineering (MVE) has utilised the 600 MBDL Rockwell scale bench hardness tester from Bowers Metrology to ensure the quality of the materials the company uses. MVE's product range includes troop transport, specialist load beds/trays and armoured protective systems for military logistic vehicles. The company's capabilities enable it to provide a range of solutions that are designed, tested and fitted for all logistic applications on a variety of wheeled chassis types - light, medium and heavy.

MVE's current main contract relates to the production of 6,700 load beds/trays for the Ministry of Defence's (MoD) support vehicle contract with MAN Vehicles UK. The nature of the vehicles manufactured by MVE, and the serious implications of any failure in the field, mean that quality assurance is of paramount performance. In addition to the in-process quality checks and inspections made by the company's staff, a stringent regime of testing helps to ensure that the materials used on each vehicle are of the required standard and are able to withstand the harsh conditions that vehicles can be subjected to.

The company recently purchased an advanced hardness tester to ensure the continued quality of the materials it uses. Steve Peel, quality manager at MVE, said: 'Although we accurately specify the type and grade of the metals we use, in accordance with our "belt and braces" approach to quality we recently decided to invest in a modern, Rockwell scale bench hardness tester. 'Having weighed up the qualities of several alternative testers, we came to the conclusion that the 600 MBDL Rockwell scale bench hardness tester from Bowers Metrology best met our needs. 'Now in daily use, in addition to our checks on incoming raw material, the flexible tester is now used for a variety of hardness-testing tasks.

'Our new bench tester has recently proved invaluable for the in-depth testing of the hardness of steel used at critical shackle-mounting points and of load-bed floor plates. 'This procedure helps assure the integrity of the material used within highly stressed areas. 'As the 600 MBDL is able to accommodate the large parts, we are able to utilise it across a wide range of parts. 'The machine's speed of operation, ease-of-use and accuracy means that it is making a significant contribution to our material quality control procedures,' Peel added. Bowers Metrology claimed that the 600 MBDL bench hardness tester provides the user with high standards of accuracy, reliability and durability at an affordable price.

Featuring a rugged construction to help withstand tough shop-floor environments, and a large working capacity enabling the largest of test specimens to be accommodated, the 600 MBDL is able to operate in Rockwell scales A, B, C, D, E, F, G, K, L, M, P, R and V. With a system accuracy conforming to EN-ISO 6508 and ASTM-E18, Bowers' motorised tester features a hardness resolution 0.1 of a Rockwell unit. The easy-to-operate 600 MBDL is able to operate under test loads of 60, 100 and 150kgf, with available dwell times ranging from 0-30sec, in five-second steps.

An easy-to-read OLED full colour, multi function display shows a progress bar graphic for the preload function. Further displayed parameters include preload applied, main load applied, dwell time, invalid reading, invalid measurement, invalid procedure and the Rockwell value, scale applied. Standard delivery includes a range of test anvils, indenters and test blocks, enabling the 600 MBDL to undertake accurate Rockwell hardness testing procedures across a range of specimens.

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