When developing a process, it is often important to know the exact time it takes for a coating to dry or cure.

There are many stages to the coating drying time. Once a coating has been has been applied, the first stage is that the coating levels off under gravity. Once a coating begins to cure, a thin dry film appears on the surface. The coating then continues to dry and finally after a period of time, the coating is totally cured.

But how do you know when a coating is totally dry?

Using an Elcometer Drying Time Recorder, the operator can easily identify each of the stages of the drying process.

A ball tip is placed into the coating and, using the mathematical formula : Distance = Speed x Time; the Elcometer Drying Time Recorder begins to move this ball at a predefined speed. As the coating dries, the trace left in the coating by the ball identifies each stage of the cure.