Technidyne Finalist for International/Global Award

Greater Louisville Inc., the metro chamber of commerce, announced its finalists for its 2013 Inc.credible awards program.   Technidyne Corporation is a finalist in the International/Global Award category.

The annual awards program is intended to recognize small businesses that are spurring growth in the Louisville area, according to a news release from GLI.  The winners will be announced at the 2013 Inc.credible Awards Luncheon, which will be held Aug. 23 at The Galt House Hotel.

The press release from GLI can be found here.

Density vs. Reflectance Measurement (Part 1)

A densitometer is an instrument for the measurement of the optical density of a transmitting material or an instrument which measures the negative log of the reflectance of a reflecting material.  They are widely used in the graphic arts and photographic industries for process control.  The densitometer measures the absorbance properties of individual colorants, i.e. the three primary process ink colors magenta, cyan and yellow but does not measure color in relation to the human observer as it is measured by a colorimeter or spectrophotometer.  Differences between reflection densitometers and reflectometers are as follows:

1) Readout scales - densitometers read out in density units; Reflectometers read out in reflectance units. They are related by:
                           D = - log₁₀ R   or  D = log₁₀ 1/R 
where D is density & R is reflectance expressed in decimal form.

The densitometric scale has its value in the at it approximates the light absorption characteristics of dyes or inks that are used together in a colorant combination.  Thus the densitometer is useful in measuring the ability of cyan to absorb light in the yellow portion of the spectrum, magenta to absorb light in the green portion of the spectrum and yellow to absorb in the blue portion of the spectrum.  The logarithmic density scale, therefore, relates to amounts of colorants and not to human visual perception of color.

The second part of this discussion will include three other differences between reflection densitometers and reflectometers.

West Linn Paper Trained on PROFILE/Plus

Two members of the team at West Linn Paper just outside Portland, OR are at Technidyne this week for training on the PROFILE/Plus.  They will be implementing

• PROFILE/Plus Caliper  
• PROFILE/Plus Gloss 
• PROFILE/Plus PPS 
• PROFILE/Plus Roughness/Porosity

Their primary goal was to get the instrumentation on the floor where the back tenders can do the testing in order to get the data to the operators more quickly.  This will help identify issues early and make corrective action much quicker and more effective. 

This information was provided by Rodger Segelstrom, US Sales Manager - Technidyne Corporation.

Paper science degree pays off with job placement

This is a really interesting article in USA Today pointing out the advantages of Paper Science education.

USA Today article

PAPER!

75° or 20° Gloss?

When light strikes a sheet of paper, three types of reflectance can occur. In one extreme case, all of the light that strikes the surface is diffusely reflected in all directions equally (A, above).  In another extreme case, all of the light is reflected in an equal but opposite angle of its incident direction (C, above).  Paper is neither totally specular nor totally diffuse, it is a combination of the two (B, above). However, only the specular component is measured as gloss.

The two specular angles which are most commonly used in the paper industry are 75° and 20° (measured with respect to a perpendicular to the surface of the sheet). These angles were selected on the basis of best correlation between measured values and visual assessment of gloss.  The image above shows that for intermediate ranges of gloss, numerical gloss values measured at a specular angle of 75° provide a nearly linear relationship with visual gloss assessment.  For very low or very high gloss  materials, however, large observable changes in gloss result in very small changes in the measured numerical values.  For measurements of high gloss materials such as cast coated papers, high gloss inks, etc. which have a 75° gloss value greater than 85, a steeper angle such as 20°, may provide better discrimination.  As seen above there is a better spread of numerical gloss values in the high gloss region for 20° measurements than for 75° measurements. Sixty degree gloss is commonly employed in other industries for products such as paint and plastics, but it is seldom encountered in the paper industry.

Related standards:
  - 75° gloss: TAPPI T480, ISO 8254-1, PAPTAC E.3 [intermediate ranges of gloss]
  - 20° gloss: TAPPI T563, ISO 8254-3 [high gloss range]

Do you need service in Central America?

One of our Service Technicians just spent a few days in El Salvador working with a customer.  Their instruments had not been serviced in quite a while.  The instruments needed some updates, cleaning and parts replaced.  Three Color Touch instruments are now running at a high level and the fourth will get a much needed replacement part this week.

If you have instruments that have been neglected or been without service for a while call or email us.  We try to provide comprehensive customer service including training, calibration and maintenance to all of our customers around the world. Occasionally, we lose track of instruments or customers don't know where to go for help.

See our World Directory on our website or contact James B directly to get your equipment running at peak efficiency.

Coresta Porosity for Cigarette Paper

Coresta stands for Centre de Cooperation pour les Recherches Scientifiques Relatives au Tabac. Coresta is an international organization of representatives from the tobacco industry, sharing scientific/technical information relating to the tobacco plant as well as tobacco products.

 

The Coresta method for porosity is commonly used in the cigarette industry.  The test pressure approximates the pressure differential that cigarette paper is subjected to in its actual use.  Coresta air permeability is the flow of air (cubic centimeters per minute) passing through 1 square centimeter surface on the test piece at a measuring pressure of 1.00 kPa.  The actual test area is as large as 10 square centimeters, but the results are normalized to flow per square centimeter.  Since the product tested is frequently supplied on narrow width “bobbins”, the measuring head is commonly manufactured in an oblong geometry in order to achieve a relatively large test area on the narrow strip.  Due to the frequent occurrence of pinholes in these grades, it is important to test at the specified Coresta pressure, and to generally test a 10 square centimeter area in order to obtain the desired standard deviation.  When the test area is reduced, pinholes will cause a higher standard deviation, as such pinholes would represent a larger percentage of the test area.  There are procedures used to test cigarette paper at different pressures in order to assess the effect of pinholes on airflow.  The flow comparisons show larger deviations from laminar flow when pinholes are tested. 

This method is commonly used throughout the tobacco industry around the world.

Evaluating Sample Variation

Many times customers attempt to determine the variation of their product to assist in determining reasonable production tolerances. Below is an evaluation that we assisted a customer with on some deep red paper samples.

 

Technidyne Data – Evaluation of red paper samples

A variety of measurements were made on the red paper samples provided by the customer to better understand the characteristics of the samples.  Similar measurements were made on the 90 range, white calibration standard paper to provide a basis for comparison.

Sample Variability (single direction): One single red sample sheet was measured 30 times in various locations but in the same orientation to look at the sample variability.  All three parameters, L*, a* and b*, had a range (high minus low) of about 0.25 units.  Using the standard deviation, the values in L* had the most variation followed by a* and finally b*. 

TABLE A.1 – Red Sample Variability (single direction)

After taking 30 readings (all with the sample in the same orientation)

	L*	a*	b*
Range (High – Low)	0.25	0.25	0.22
Standard Deviation	0.073	0.066	0.053

Similar measurements (12 instead of 30 since the physical size is smaller) were made of the white, non-fluorescent paper calibration standard.  The L*, a* and b* range was less than 0.05, or about 20% the spread seen with the red sample.  The standard deviations were on the order of 3 to 12 times smaller than those of the red sample.

TABLE B.1 – White Paper Sample Variability (single direction)

After taking 12 readings (all with the sample in the same orientation)

	L*	a*	b*
Range (High – Low)	0.04	0.02	0.05
Standard Deviation	0.011	0.005	0.017

Sample Variability (directionality; MD vs. CD): The same sample sheet was then measured 15 times in machine direction (MD) and then 15 times in cross-machine direction (CD).  L* and b* showed slightly higher directionality as determined by looking at the range and standard deviation of the measurements.  All of these values were higher than those achieved in the single direction test described above. 

TABLE A.2 – Red Sample Variability (directionality; MD vs. CD)

After taking 30 readings (15 MD and 15 CD)

	L*	a*	b*
Range (High – Low)	0.36	0.32	0.23
Standard Deviation	0.080	0.086	0.059

A series of 12 measurements were made of the white, non-fluorescent paper calibration standard.  There is no real directionality when compared to the single direction data above.  However, the results are orders of magnitude better then the red sample which shows some measurable directionality.

TABLE B.2 – White Paper Sample Variability (directionality; MD vs. CD)

After taking 12 readings (6 MD and 6 CD)

	L*	a*	b*
Range (High – Low)	0.02	0.02	0.04
Standard Deviation	0.008	0.006	0.015

These kind of evaluations are important to help in determining reasonable variations and production tolerances. This information can also be useful to help communicate with the end user on acceptability tolerances.

Feel free to contact me at toddp@technidyne.com.

Burrows Purchases PROFILE/Plus System

Burrows Paper in Pickens, MS has been running lean, but they have been looking for ways to be more efficient and getting more quality data (test results) with the personnel they have.

They have chosen to implement a PROFILE/Plus automated test system for testing their very light weight paper, including:

• PROFILE/Plus Caliper
• PROFILE/Plus Gloss
• PROFILE/Plus Opacity
• PROFILE/Plus Brightness (TAPPI)
• PROFILE/Plus Roughness/Porosity

This solution replaces a lot of older test equipment, but allows for significant increases in test frequency without adding personnel.

This information was provided by Joe O'Leary, Southern Area Manager - Technidyne Corporation.

Emtec Tissue Softness Analyzers in the US

Technidyne has worked closely with many companies over the last couple of years to provide technical expertise, testing and demonstrations of the Emtec TSA (Tissue Softness Analyzer).

Twelve (12) U.S. tissue manufacturers and suppliers have purchased 16 TSA instruments over the past 2 years.  These units are used in a variety of ways to improve machine operation and increase customer satisfaction.  The TSA has proven to be a versatile quality and process control tool for tissue companies around the world.

For more information visit Technidyne's website  or Emtec TSA website .