Determination of Nonconductive Coating Thickness Using Electrical Contact Conductance and Surface Profile

Abstract

This paper describes a method to determine the thickness of a nonconductive coating by identifying the transition of material by a change in electrical properties. A slide-hold-slide test was conducted with a worn specimen including an electrodeposited coating layer. Relative displacement was imposed between a metallic stylus tip and a worn steel specimen. After an initial sliding, the tip was held for a certain time to measure electrical contact resistance. During the test, the vertical displacement of the stylus tip was also recorded to draw a surface profile of the worn specimen. Coating thickness on the specimen was determined with a surface profile at the transition of electrical contact conductance. Optical cross-section measurement of the specimen was applied to identify actual coating thickness. Measured results reveal that calculated coating thicknesses are in good agreement with measured values by an optical microscope. The proposed method allows determination of both nonconductive coating thickness and surface profile in a single measurement.