Paperboard Warping
The Background
A paper company located on the east coast prints heavy weight laminated paperboard for club store applications. When laminating paper surfaces, the company consistently experienced curl or warp in the finished product.
The Problem
The company came to realize that the warp was caused by unequal moisture in the top and base sheets. This wasted an estimated 10-15% of their product.
The company attempted to resolve the wrapping issue by implementing a coat weight sensor to measure coat weight of laminating adhesive. But the warped product continued.
They set standard work processes with tensions, coat weights, and steam settings, based on the Certificate of Compliance from the paper vendors. The hope so that if they could meet the targets, they could control moisture in the top and base sheets equally.
The Solution
The first step to controlling the moisture is to measure it accurately and consistently. The company selected MoistTech’s on-line, NIR moisture sensor, the IR3000, to read the moisture level in the two webs of paper before it was laminated.
With the IR3000, the company found that paper moisture was varying even from the Certiciate of Compliance given by the vendors. Once the company collected data for moisture content, they were able to find what moisture levels work and what moisture levels caused the warping. They charted the data showing the variation and shared this with our paper vendors. This caused the vendors to tighten up their tolerance for moisture.
We continue to measure moisture against the targets we have set, rejecting anything outside this target with appropriate deviation. With MoistTech’s moisture sensor, the company was able to significantly reduce warp issues and with the ultimate goal of honing their processes to eliminate warp all together.
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When it comes to moisture measurement, MoistTech is the diamond standard. It’s industry-leading precision, non-contact and non-drift sensors make it easy to get reliable measurements time and again. Request a quote today.