ROSELAND, NJ—An increasingly concerning issue in the metallized film industry is surface quality and reduction of pinholes and other defects which can lead to loss of barrier properties (WVTR & OTR) and customers eventually rejecting the film with negative cost implications for the supplier. Additionally, producing metallized films with the correct optical density (OD) coating deposition (aluminum layer thickness) is equally important to ensure optimum visual appearance. Having a monitoring system that can detect pinhole defects during metallization and also accurately monitor the OD uniformity can have significant time and cost saving benefits for suppliers as well as protecting their quality and brand reputation. This is where the Bobst Hawkeye comes in.
The Bobst Hawkeye defect detection system can do both of these tasks simultaneously, inline at maximum production speeds without compromising the quality of metallization. This unique inline OD measuring system is based on the already acclaimed Bobst Registron module and eliminates the need for offline checking, hence reducing the risk of customer rejects. Hawkeye accurately checks defects throughout the full reel length and provides immediate live feedback alerts to the operator, pinpointing the exact location of pinhole defects inside the vacuum chamber so that corrective measures can be applied to eliminate them.
It consists of an OD beam measuring up to 4.5 OD with a pitch of 25-mm. to meet AIMCAL specification requirements and a defect beam that detects, counts and categorizes pinholes from 0.1-mm. in size as well as scratches on the metallized surface of the film. It has a modular design that is easy to operate and calibrate with a simple user interface which can generate numerous reports as PDF files, ensuring full quality control and traceability are achieved. Hawkeye is also extremely easy to maintain and calibrate, with easy cleaning modules that can be added or removed as necessary; additionally, it can go for one month without the need for calibration.