Physical Testing
Durometer
Durometer is the measurement of hardness of rubber and plastic materials. There are several scales of durometer, used for materials with different properties. The two most common scales, using slightly different measurement systems, are the A and D scales. The A scale is for softer plastics, while the D scale is for harder ones. However, the ASTM D2240 testing standard calls for a total of 12 scales, depending on the intended use with higher values indicating a harder material.
Polymer Solutions Incorporated routinely uses the following durometer types:
Shore A (softer plastics and most rubbers)
Shore D (most plastics and harder rubbers)
Shore M (microhardness for small samples) Shore O (highly elastic samples)
Applications:
- Specification testing
- Material comparison
- Change in properties with exposure to application conditions
- Material selection