- Home
- Selection Guides
- Choose Between Shore and IRHD Hardness Testing
Choose Between Shore and IRHD Hardness Testing
The choice between Shore and IRHD is often already made by the drawing, the customer specification or the internal QA procedure that names one method. Where it is genuinely still open, the deciding question is whether the work needs laboratory-grade method control or fast, portable production checks. Both measure rubber and elastomer hardness, but they are not interchangeable, and a result quoted in the wrong one is hard to defend.
In standards terms that usually means ASTM D1415 or ISO 48-2 on the IRHD side, against ASTM D2240 or ISO 868 on the Shore side. IRHD's dead-weight ball indentation is built for controlled rubber QC — seals, gaskets, O-rings and vibration mounts — where specimen conditioning and repeatability matter most; Shore durometer testing trades some of that control for speed and a handheld instrument you can take to the part.
1. How to Choose
- Choose IRHD when tighter method control and laboratory consistency matter more than speed.
- Choose Shore when portability, production-floor use and quick checks matter more than dead-weight laboratory testing.
- Use both when quick production screening and formal laboratory confirmation are separate stages of the same quality process.
2. Typical Product Paths
3. Next Step
Once the method is settled, choose the instrument itself. For Shore, work through Choose a Shore Durometer; for IRHD, continue to Select an IRHD Hardness Tester.
4. Related Knowledge
- IRHD vs Shore Hardness — the two scales side by side, and why the readings do not convert.
- Shore Hardness — how the durometer method works.
- Rubber Hardness (IRHD) — how the IRHD method works and where it fits.