Innovative Thermal-Optical Measuring Method

The coatmaster Flex measures without dangerous radiation sources, such as laser or X-rays, and is based on the principle of thermal coating inspection. A flash lamp is used as the excitation source to heat the coating. After a short pulse-like heating of the coating by a few degrees Celsius, cooling and heat conduction follows into deeper areas of the coating and into the substrate material. The detected thermal radiation is recorded, converted and digitized by an infrared sensor without any contact to the coating. By calibrating the coating and the substrate material, the coatmaster Flex can perform a non-contact determination of the coating thickness using this measuring principle (Reinke & Bariska, 2010, p. 10-13).

Advantages

  • Also for wet coatings before drying and powder coatings before burning-in
  • Distance- and angle-independent measurement
  • On all colors (incl. white)
  • Up to 30% savings of coating material and rejects
  • Fast and reliable control of coating processes
  • Even on very fast moving parts
  • Real-time data access via ERP and browser
  • Extremely precise coating thickness measurement even on rough (e.g. sandblasted) surfaces.

⇒This ensures optimum quality control and significant cost savings.

Application

The (inline) device is particularly used for quality control in the ongoing production of high-quality products from the automotive and furniture industry, such as bearing shells, pistons and vibration dampers. Wet and powder coatings as well as dry coatings can be measured with the coatmaster Flex. For powder applications, the coatmaster Flex is already pre-calibrated and you only have to choose between two selectable settings (light/dark). For wet coating applications, a simple calibration must be performed (per color, or per color group). The use of the system leads to sustainable improvement of product quality in many industries (Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, 2017).

The device is equipped with a WLAN module. Measurements are taken on site and sent to a central computer in Germany via the Internet for calculation of the coating thickness. All other data such as formed measurement blocks and associated statistical values can be retrieved from the central computer at any time.

 

 

 

Non-contact measurements with the coating thickness gauge coatmaster Flex
Lens of the coating thickness gauge coatmaster Flex
Coating thickness measurement in difficult places
Coating thickness measurement in locations that are difficult to access

Specifications

Measuring range
Wet paint
Powder coating uncured
Powder coating cured

1 to 400 µm
1 to 400 µm
1 to 1.000 µm
Detecting point mark circle with 8 points
Measuring distance* 2 to 15 cm
Measuring time 0.1 s
Measuring on moving parts yes
Relative Standard Deviation** 1%
Angle tolerance* ± 70°

* depending on coating and substrate material
** 60 μm powder coating before curing
    (all colors incl. white) on aluminum, 5 cm distance