Anyone tested various lights body hardness?

[kosPap]

well this has always been a question of mine...(and what I know of hardness measurement is teh way cast bullets are measured)

does one use a similar device?
has anyone experiemented with this?
how does Ano finish affect measured hardness?
what is the difference between say surefire and the generic xxxfire chinese lights? Is it significant from a mechanical/machinist standpoint?

Thnak you, Kostas

 

[StarHalo]

Hardness deals with scratch resistance, tensile strength deals with crush resistance. How hard the coating/anodizing is determines hardness, and what material the body is made of determines tensile strength.

Anodizing aluminum improves scratch resistance because the process dramatically increases the hardness on the very surface of the flashlight. But this doesn't affect tensile strength at all, the same amount of weight vs un-anodized will still deform the body.

Surefire uses a quality alloy of aluminum machined to a thick/heavy gauge, with Mil-Spec hard anodizing; this is a bang-for-the-buck combo - excellent crush and scratch resistance at a very modest price point. There are body materials that are more crush resistant, but they're notably more expensive, just as there are anodizing coatings that are harder and also much more pricey.

Most cheaper lights use a lesser aluminum alloy cut to a thinner gauge, and softer types of anodizing. These lights will scratch much more easily, and will deform under much less weight compared to a quality light.

For our flashlight purposes, titanium and stainless steel are at the high-end of crush resistance, while AlTiN and TiCN coatings are as hard-coated as metal can be made. Note that many titanium light users prefer no coating at all - while these lights scratch more easily, any nick can simply be buffed out, as opposed to a scratch in anodizing which sticks out like a sore thumb and is there forever.

 

[65535]

In reality blemish's don't matter. My other though is although nice and tough, I don't foresee a flashlight NEEDING to be able to stand being crushed any more than a SF light can stand. Which is being run over.

Just my 2 cents. StarHalo pretty much nailed the good info. A mil spec chromium hard coating is also an incredibly hard coating. Not normal chrome plating but 3D tool grade coating. It's used on high temp./pressure rollers in large (dozens of tons.) machinery.

 

[kosPap]

65535 you lost me here....but never mind...

I gave already mixed up hardness and tensile strength as starhalo very well put it....I now the meaning but simehow I f'ed up...

Thank you both, Kostas