What is an IK Rating?

An IK (Impact Protection) rating is a unit used to define the levels of protection an electrical enclosure offers to any contents and assemblies housed inside. This is calculated by measuring the enclosure's protection against external mechanical impacts.

To ensure your components are sufficiently protected, it’s important to understand the protection level offered from each rating and what IK rating you require for your application. An IK rating varies from 0 – 10, with IK10 offering the highest level of protection.

Find out more on the different levels of impact protection an electrical enclosure offers below or by checking out our handy IK ratings chart below.

IK ratings are defined in international standards BS EN 62262 and IEC 600608-2-75. Further information on IK rating standards (BS EN 62262:2002+A1:2021) is available to purchase from the British Standards Institute here.

Want to learn about ingress protection as well? Take a look at our IP ratings page.

Impact Protection

00 – No impact protection
01 – Protected against 0.14 joules impact  (similar to 0.25kg mass dropped from 56mm high)
02 – Protected against 0.2 joules impact  (similar to 0.25kg mass dropped from 80mm high)
03 – Protected against 0.35 joules impact  (similar to 0.25kg mass dropped from 140mm high)
04 – Protected against 0.5 joules impact  (similar to 0.25kg mass dropped from 200mm high)
05 – Protected against 0.7 joules impact  (similar to 0.25kg mass dropped from 280mm high)
06 – Protected against 1 joules impact  (similar to 0.25kg mass dropped from 400mm high)
07 – Protected against 2 joules impact  (similar to 0.5kg mass dropped from 400mm high)
08 – Protected against 5 joules impact  (similar to 1.7kg mass dropped from 300mm high)
09 – Protected against 10 joules impact  (similar to 5kg mass dropped from 200mm high)
10 – Protected against 20 joules impact  (similar to 5kg mass dropped from 400mm high)