By Eric J. Reber, technical dir.-Mahlo America, Inc. The in-line measurement of thin coatings on paper and film continues to challenge manufacturers, especially as performance tolerances and requirements tighten. New measurement techniques have been introduced recently which focus on thin coatings and employ optical measurement techniques to provide accuracies down to 0.01 … [Read more...] about New optical measurement methods for in-line measurement of web coatings on paper & film

By Alfonse Novelli, president/founder, Novation, Inc. Automatic web-inspection systems are becoming increasingly more popular. Whether it be surface inspection on an extruder, print inspection on a gravure press or a coatweight gauge on a laminator, web-fed processes can be monitored automatically for out-of-spec conditions. Defects sensed then need to be found and culled … [Read more...] about Closing the web-inspection loop with automatic defect marking

By Eric J. Reber, technical dir.-Mahlo America, Inc. The traditional method for the on-line measurement of extruded / cast films, extrusion coatings, solution and hot-melt coatings and nonwovens has been the use of one or more Beta Transmission Sensors. As the availability of certain isotopes has become uncertain and end-users increasingly are more concerned about the use … [Read more...] about Alternatives to nuclear sensors for on-line web-gauging of weight / thickness measurement

By Vivek Komaragiri, chief technology officer, Sensory Analytics This article discusses some of the coating-process digitization opportunities created by real-time measurement of coating-thickness measurement data, especially by using a precise and absolute thickness-measurement technology known as ruggedized optical interference (ROI) technology. To remain competitive in a … [Read more...] about Coating-process digitalization opportunities created by absolute, in-process, coating-thickness measurement data