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TEST & MEASUREMENT
globally, has chosen the thicknessGAUGE system from Micro-Epsilon to measure the thickness of strip materials. The thicknessGAUGE is also used to measure the cross-strip profile of the material to check for warp (i.e. bowed, curved or tilted), which would adversely affect the downstream cold bonding process. The thicknessGAUGE measurement system is a complete ‘out-of-the-box’ solution for thickness gauging and quality control. The system is suitable for both offline and inline thickness gauging and is available in several versions that use one of three different sensor types – laser triangulation, laser profile or confocal chromatic sensors.
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MEASURING THE THICKNESS AND WARP OF METAL STRIP MATERIALS
MAHLE Engine Systems’ Kilmarnock plant uses the thicknessGAUGE.C.L, a C-frame system that uses laser triangulation sensors. These compact systems comprise of the measuring frame housing the laser sensors, an integrated linear unit including motor control, a compact bus terminal box, automatic calibration unit, as well as a multi- touch PC with pre-installed software. The laser sensors acquire data at high measuring rates (up to 4 kHz) with measurement accuracies to ±2 µm. The gauge has a 10mm measurement range and a 400mm traversing range.
Charles McMillan, head of Quality/Process Engineering at MAHLE Engine Systems UK comments: “The metal alloys that we produce at Kilmarnock are supplied in coils to other inter- group companies where they are used in the manufacture of automotive components such as engine bearings and thrust washers.” The quality team at Kilmarnock decided it needed some sort of thickness measurement system for the strip material that the plant produces. The strip itself goes through various different manufacturing steps, including ovens and rolling operations to produce the desired strip thickness for customers. As McMillan explains: “We eventually reach a point in our production process where the alloy strip material is ready to be sent to our cold roll bonding mill, where it is bonded onto a steel backing. We already have a fixed 100 per cent inspection thickness measurement system and automatic gap control system on the cold roll bonding mill. However, this only gives us information on the bonded material output. We never really had any measurements of the incoming steel or of the alloy that we were producing in-house – just sample spot checks using a micrometer.”
FLEXIBLE MEASUREMENT SYSTEM McMillan says his team wanted a thickness measurement system that could provide them with process capability but which would also be flexible enough to be moved around their different production lines and machines. “We had used Micro-Epsilon products before, so we approached them to see if they had a suitable thickness measurement solution.
14 Spring 2024 UKManufacturing
AHLE Engine Systems Kilmarnock, a supplier of aluminium tin bi-metal and sinter (copper/bronze) bi-metal coils to MAHLE Bearings plants
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