Testing Equipment Elastomer Properties

Hardness is the resistance that a material offers to the penetration of a hard body.

Hardness is usually measured using a Shore A tester , in which a truncated cone needle is pressed into the rubber surface by a spring. The further the needle can penetrate into the rubber - i.e. the softer the rubber - the smaller the needle deflection on the measuring scale, which ranges from 0 Shore A to 100 Shore A. A Shore A hardness tester is useful in the range 10-90 Shore A. For harder mixtures and hard rubber, however, a Shore D device is used. It has a sharper needle and a stronger spring.

Synonyms: Testing equipment for measuring elastomer properties