INSTRUMENTATION | COLOUR MEASUREMENT
matches more quickly in order to win business. The new release of Color iMatch has a redesigned formulation engine that significantly improves initial match and correction performance. In addition, a new “search and correct” algorithm enables better utilisation of legacy data. It uses proprietary search metrics to more accurately identify candidate formulas containing the most likely colorant combinations for more rapid formula convergence. According to Knapp, the redesigned formulation engine can cut the number of steps required to get an approved colour match in half. “This provides a significant competitive advantage to resin, colorant, pigment and dye suppliers,” he says. Color iMatch is compatible with current and
Figure 1: An EquiColor Process Control Chart showing L*,a*,b* and dE* values with their upper (UCL) and lower (LLC) control limits at an extrusion operation. The process was stopped at 10.09 and re-started a minute later. It shows the L* value trending up between 10.11 and 10.14 but stabilising thereafter Source: Equitech
information on how to measure samples and operating procedures. This ensures that each measurement device used by a compounder can be set up to use the same specified template and each individual measurement is recorded. Using Color iQC software, compounders can set up the process variables impacting colour that they want to track and analyse. Quality control professionals or plant managers can leverage that data to better understand where colour drift occurs in the manufacturing process. Color iQC software syncs with X-Rite measure- ment devices, making it easy to graphically see the colour variation of a series of measurement samples. Using the digital standard, the software can plot whether failing colours are too light, too dark, too red, and so on. Equally important, the software can be used to sort, group and analyse process vari- ables. Users can quickly identify patterns and the cause of colour variation in production. For exam- ple, a compounder can produce a set of samples using the same plastic formula and run it under a variety of different settings. That data may show that a temperature increase or reduction in dwell time is causing the colour to shift. In March this year X-Rite put out a new release of
Color iMatch, which it says helps compounders and masterbatchers accelerate colour development through better initial matches and the need for fewer corrections. Larger colour palettes, complex materials and
effect finishes add time to the formulation process but today’s plastic suppliers need to deliver colour
40 COMPOUNDING WORLD | July 2019
future Microsoft Operating Systems and offers support for X-Rite and non-X-Rite instruments.
Automating control At US-based in-line process measurement specialist Equitech, CEO Jaime Gómez points to the current trend of automation and interconnectivity in manufacturing technologies made possible by advances in communication technologies and sensors. “The adoption of Industry 4.0 by manufacturing plants is helping create ‘smart factories’ where decisions are made by machines based on the input received and using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to inform the operator of current trends that will affect the performance of the process, thus enabling corrective actions to be taken before off-spec product is produced,” he says. “However, to achieve this level, a smart factory needs to be able to collect real-time data, store it, analyse it, and make decisions according to its findings. This is how Equitech is helping its customers,” Gomez adds. Equitech’s Equispec spectrophotometers handle collection, storage, and analysis of real-time data through fibre-optic probes and a software package called EquiColor (Figure 1). “We successfully measure colour directly in the melt just before the die gives form to the final product and correlate it to laboratory measurements taken under controlled conditions,” he says. “But the Equispec does not stop here. It serves as a ‘process sleuth’ that can detect processing conditions and issues that are impossible for humans to detect. We have successfully detected lack of product homogenisation, twin-screw elements wear, feeder pulsation, contamination, and product composition.” Gomez says that, over the past few months, Equitech has advanced its technology. “We have successfully achieved closed-loop control in a plastics extrusion operation where our customer
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