NEW
COULOSCOPE^® CMS STEP:

The STEP TEST (S imultaneous Thickness and Electrochemical Potential) is a measurement method that has been standardized for a long time to determine the individual coating thicknesses and the electrochemical potential differences between the individual coatings of a nickel coating system. The measurement of multi-layer nickel coatings becomes increasingly important in the electroplating industry, for example to measure duplex nickel coatings in a standard-conforming manner.

The high voltage resolution of the COULOSCOPE^® CMS STEP enables the potential determination between the top coating of micro-porous nickel or cracked nickel and the bright nickel coating underneath it as well as between the bright nickel and the semi-bright nickel coating (if applicable also with highly sulfurous nickel between the bright and the semi-bright nickel).

Fields of application for the COULOSCOPE^® CMS STEP are:

• Simultaneous measurements of thickness and electrochemical potential of duplex and triplex nickel coatings.
  
• Thickness determination of essentially all metal coatings on metallic or non-metallic substrate materials, even for multi-layers.

Concrete areas of application in industries and special fields are:

• Production monitoring in the electroplating industry; due to the uncomplicated handling of the novel reference electrode, the instrument is ideally suited for the rough environment of electroplating plants!


• Incoming inspection of finished parts, e.g., chrome trim molding (with duplex nickel) in the automotive industry.

The advantages of the instrument at a glance:

• Quick results (compared to very time-intensive salt spray tests).



• Nearly 100 pre-defined measurement applications are available (from single coating applications such as zinc on iron to triple coating applications such as chromium, nickel and copper on synthetic substrate materials).



• A unique arrangement around the measuring cell. This patent-pending design ensures a consistently equal distance between the reference electrode and the specimen. This is very important for exactly repeatable, accurate measurements.
  
  
• No cumbersome adjustment of the measuring cell required.
  
  
• User-friendly handling, menu-supported operator guidance.
  
  
• Utilizes the coulometric method according to DIN EN ISO 2177 standard and ASTM B764-94. Thus, not only the thicknesses of copper carrier coatings, nickel multi-coatings and chrome coatings but also the electrochemical potential differences between the nickel coatings can be measured easily.
  
  
• Large display, clear keyboard.

Advantages of the special STEP-View software:

The PC software program STEP-View is available to save and conveniently evaluate the measured potential plots. However, evaluations can be carried out also directly at the instrument.
In the STEP-View program, the measured potential profile can be read from the instrument with a click of the mouse button. The determination of the coating thicknesses and of the potential differences occurs in two separate diagrams. The interesting values can be determined easily by positioning up to 5 markers at the relevant sections of the plot. The data can be exported to an Excel spreadsheet, the plots can be saved in popular graphic formats and extensive printform templates can be set up.