Tire manufacturers often need to know total wall thickness or distance to steel or fiber ply cords in many types of rubber tires. With ultrasonic gauges it is now possible to measure thickness of rubber nondestructively and efficiently. It is done by coupling ultrasound into the tire from the outside surface. The ultrasound will normally be reflected from a steel or fiber ply cord, in which case the gauge measures cord depth, or - in the absence of cords - it will be reflected from the inside surface of the tire. With the appropriate sound velocity setting for the rubber, the gauge then digitally displays the thickness of the rubber.
Because many types of rubber are very attenuating to high frequency ultrasound, it may be difficult to measure total wall thickness or cord depth in certain thick-walled and large diameter tires. External configurations and internal tire structures may further complicate ultrasonic thickness measurements.

Equipment: Depending on the application, there are a number of possible approaches to rubber tire thickness measurements. For automobile and light truck tires, position of the embedded steel or ply cord can be gauged with the Model 35DL-HP or 35HP. These gauges in combination with a M1036 or M103 contact transducer will generally measure from 0.125 to 1.0 inches (3 to 25mm), to a calibrated accuracy of approximately ±0.010 inch (±0.25mm) or better.
If the distance to the steel belt or fiber ply cord is greater than 1 inch (25mm), it may be possible to use the Model 25DLHP with a M2008 transducer. This combination generally has enough sensitivity to penetrate up to several inches in rubber
We have available other instrumentation for special tire applications. For example, it is possible to measure tread thicknesses up to 8 inches (400mm) in off-road tires with a special ultrasonic system based around an Epoch 4 flaw detector.

Products used for this application

Epoch 4
The standard-featured EPOCH 4 flaw detector offers great measurement capabilities and software options such as the fully encoded B-scan.

35 Series
General purpose, lightweight Panametrics-NDT gauges feature optional live Waveform and Adjust Mode. 35DL and 35DL-HP have alphanumeric data logger.

25HP PLUS
Panametrics-NDT thickness and velocity gauge for thicker materials. Features large LCD with live Waveform and sophisticated alphanumeric data logger.

EPOCH 4PLUS
The advanced EPOCH 4PLUS with color LCD offers more measurement features and software options than any other Panametrics-NDT flaw detector.

EPOCH XT
The Panametrics- NDT flaw detector offers EN-12668 compliance, multi-color LCD, multiple battery options, host and client USB ports. Dynamic DAC/TVG is standard

EPOCH LTC
Rugged handheld flaw detector: IP67 and EN-12668 compliant, weighs only 2.12 lbs (0.96 kg), full color VGA display, USB On-the-Go Port for PC. Dynamic DAC/TVG is standard