Resin Hardness Measurement

Hi Guys-

I have a customer that produces in-ground vaults for communications and power distribution applications. These vaults are made from proprietary resin formulas and as such require catalyst and are poured into molds.
The other day, I was informed that a new conveyor loop was being installed. One of the engineers pulled me aside while I was there working on an in-line resin and catalyst ratio blender. He asked me if I could design and integrate a "hardness tester."

Naturally I asked whether this "hardness tester" would be stationary or in motion? What range and/or scale? What accuracy? On and on....
Deer in the headlights...

So, I set out to find deflection, hardness, pressure resistance technologies that might be viable. No solutions are jumping out at me whether they be contact or non-contact technology.

Basically, my client wants to check the hardness of the resin in multiple size and mix design resin castings as they stop for up to 2 minutes at a selected position on the conveyor. He doesn't necessarily have a baseline value or range, so the readings could be in thing-a-ma-jigs and he would have to develop a range, in-house, that means something to him.
Have any of you guys done something anywhere near this and if so, with what?

Remember, the height (since it's a mold, we'd be coming from above it to access the resin that is curing) can vary based on the mold height. I can handle the motion to accommodate the mold height but I'm thinking if a contact-based technology is used, the first step would be to "land" a small frame on the mold and then a controlled linear force transducer would press on the surface and gauge the amount of travel achieved with a pre-defined force into the resin to determine hardness.

As I said, I'm curious about existing or alternative methods because as usual, I don't want to re-invent the wheel.

Thanks in advance for any input.

I would ask to see their set up.

The biggest question that I have is when do they test hardness?

You MUST adhear to that time line and duplicate the test then using their type of probe and test pressure.
What do they consider to be a defect / deformation at the test site?

If you do the test sooner, your test itself could render the vault defective by deforming the vault / piercing the vault at the test site.

regards,
james

Sounds like a
"Build me a car that runs on water."
"How?"
"We don't know."
Scenario.
Better bet a VERY clear idea of the budget otherwise you will be working doing R+D for these guys for free while they say "no that's no good".
I would be leery on accepting such a job when the customer doesn't appear to have any idea of how to proceed.

I have worked in Blowing area and we have this kind of hydraulic machine that check the compression of bottles.
it has a cylinder that moves at low speed (6mm travel) and pressure sensor that measures the force
you can use a servomotor with screw and pressure sensor in this way you can adjust the distance of travel.