Gauge gets to grips with coating weights

A NDC Infrared Engineering product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Feb 24, 2003

A new online measurement gauge offers accurate and reliable measurement of thin layer organic coatings applied to shiny substrates including metal or metallised materials.

A new online measurement gauge developed by NDC Infrared Engineering offers accurate and reliable measurement of thin layer organic coatings applied to shiny substrates including metal or metallised materials such as polypropylene, paper or board.

The SR710 offers manufacturers unprecedented control of organic coatings for better consistency and more effective use of expensive raw materials.

As a result, the new gauge will provide manufacturers with a return on investment in weeks or months rather than years.

The SR710 is optimised for measurement of single- and multilayer organic or aqueous coatings applied to a reflective substrate.

It is designed for use in the packaging industry where organic coatings are used for their barrier properties, and in metal processing for measuring lubricant coating used in the stamping of metal for car parts and canned drinks and so on.

The new SR710 is the latest in a series of "lacquer-on-foil" gauges from NDC Infrared Engineering.

While traditional NIR and nucleonic systems have always struggled to achieve this difficult measurement, NDC Infrared Engineering's technology still offers the only reliable online solution for organic coat weights less than 20g/m2.

This is because of optical interference which causes massive variations in light levels and heavily distorts results.

The SR710's novel optical system design eliminates these problems to offer much superior precision, repeatability and stability of measurement.

Online measurement and control of coat weight means faster startup times better process control and reduction in expensive raw material usage/wastage for significant cost savings.

Further, SR710 provides early warning of defects such as narrow streaks caused by die blocks even at fast cross web scanning rates.

Measurement stability is +/-0.003g/m2.

The SR710 enables data to be collected at ultrahigh speeds with a minimum data collection period of 3ms.

All measurements are robust to the operating environment and are therefore unaffected by ambient lighting, temperature and relative humidity variations.

The signal to noise ratio is excellent.

"SR710 has some truly innovative features which completely overshadow existing nucleonic systems and traditional NIR/IR gauges", comments James Millard, Marketing Manager, NDC Infrared Engineering.

"Many organisations still struggle with optical interference problems or simply don't measure thin layer coat weight online at all.

SR710 makes accurate measurement of the organic layer possible so our customers can benefit from more consistent coating, better quality product, and more effective use of expensive raw material to achieve ultrafast return on investment".

SR710 can be supplied as a complete measurement system with integrated scanning frame, profile display and/or data logger, or as a stand-alone gauge with RS232 communications.

It can be used for monitoring only, or for direct closed loop control of coating equipment.