Interferometric Instrument for Thickness Measurement on Blown Films

Real-time measurement of plastic film thickness during production is extremely important to guarantee planarity of the final film. Standard techniques are based on capacitive measurements, in close contact with the film. These techniques require continuous calibration and temperature compensation, w...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Michele Norgia, Alessandro Pesatori
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-06-01
Series:Photonics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/8/7/245
Description
Summary:Real-time measurement of plastic film thickness during production is extremely important to guarantee planarity of the final film. Standard techniques are based on capacitive measurements, in close contact with the film. These techniques require continuous calibration and temperature compensation, while their contact can damage the film. Different optical contactless techniques are described in literature, but none has found application to real production, due to the strong vibration of the films. We propose a new structure of low-coherence fiber interferometer able to measure blown film thickness during productions. The novel fiber-optic setup is a cross between an autocorrelator and a white light interferometer, taking the advantages of both approaches.
ISSN:2304-6732