Thickness under control

With optYlayer, Syncro offers a thickness sensor for plastic films which combines and integrates three different technologies: capacitive, inductive and optical. The addition of an LCI optical sensor (Low Coherence Interferometry), in combination with the performance of the previous CombYscan model, allows the sensor to detect: EVOH or PA layer thickness and total film thickness with the LCI method; total thickness of opaque or coloured films with the capacitive/inductive method.
Should the opaqueness or the colour of the material absorb the light completely and prevent the generation of a reflection wave, the capacitive-inductive sensor (applying the same principle as the CombYscan unit) allows quick and accurate measurements of the total thickness of films that include barrier layers. When the process machine operates with the LCI technology, the layers of different materials generate a reflection wave. The receiver sensor analyses and recombines the various reflection waves and process this information about the position of the plane that generates the wave signal, as a result determining the absolute thickness of the layers making up the film. No calibration or resetting operation is required when measuring different materials.
EVOH has become the reference material for barrier layers as well as one of the most valuable elements within the film structure, but it is also the most difficult to process, measure and control. Only the effective control of the EVOH layer thickness can guarantee the barrier quality and prevent costly non-conformity rejects.
The optYlayer instrument makes it possible to carry out such control on the part continuously in-line instead of picking up samples. The immediate identification of a defect as soon as it appears reduces reject rates while the costs associated to quality control procedures are inferior to off-line checks.