The Luna Quarterly

Luna’s Terahertz (THz) measurement systems will be featured at the SPE Blow Molding Conference in Atlanta, Georgia in October, to demonstrate our technology in improving manufacturing through high-resolution process control monitoring. THz sensors are a relatively new technology that provide ultra-fast, accurate and highly precise measurements of thickness in multilayer blow molded products. \

THz's ability to measure a wide range of materials, including those opaque to ultraviolet, visible, and infrared light, provides a unique control capability for blow molding production and quality-control processes:

• Fuel tank production: a THz sensor can be positioned at the end of a robot arm and used to take measurements on a barrier-layer automotive fuel tank, generating real-time thickness measurements of the tank’s layers to ensure consistency during the manufacturing process. 
• Parisons and bottles: THz sensors can be used to measuring the thickness of a multilayer parison just before it is clamped in the mold. This information can be used to assist development and manufacturing, and to measure the phasing of the extrusion process to get better control and distribution of the wall thickness throughout the object.

Luna’s non-contact THz sensors have the ability to measure wall thickness of nearly all blow molded products, including multilayer products, at very high rates with high accuracy and precision, and at many locations in the blow molding process. From the extruded parison or preform to the molded fuel tank or bottle, THz sensors can provide a high-precision measurement of multiple layers, regardless of color or material. 

See the full suite of Luna Terahertz solutions for process control and non-destructive test (NDT) here.