Vibrating needle curemeters

Citation

(2001), "Vibrating needle curemeters", Pigment & Resin Technology, Vol. 30 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/prt.2001.12930cad.010

Vibrating needle curemeters

Vibrating needle curemeters

Keywords Rapra Technology, Titleist and Footjoy, Curing, Polymers

The important contribution of Rapra Technology's Vibrating Needle Curemeter (VNC) and its successor, the Scanning Vibrating Needle Curemeter (SVNC), in providing information on the curing of liquid polymers has reportedly been acknowledged by several leading manufacturers and processors. Since its creation over 100 instruments are said to support companies with new formulation development, quality and production control and securing significant savings in time and costs.

Titleist and Footjoy Worldwide has used the VNC in polyurethane research for over a decade to obtain cure profile data on liquid polyurethanes and to determine the gel time of formulations under different processing conditions, the effect of catalysts, chain extenders and isocyanate index can also be monitored and displayed on the cure curves. The VNC has replaced the dependence on the "hand feel" of an operator with precise data on gel time and cure.

As Shenshen Wu of Titleist and Footjoy Worldwide confirms, the VNC has proved to be a viable process control tool in production.

By periodically monitoring the cure traces of the production runs, process problems can be detected early and this helps to minimise the amount of unusable products. The VNC can also be used as a tool for systems development and or comparing the reaction rates from run to run within the same system. The VNC has been essential in our research and production and we are truly grateful for its invention.

Dr David House of UOP LLC has used the Scanning Vibrating Needle Curemeter (SVNC) for several years. He is "very pleased with its performance" in the routine monitoring of cure profiles of polyurethane and polyurea coating formulations with pot lives ranging from ten seconds to more than 30 minutes.

Another company also benefited from the SVNC's application as a quality control measure as it identified a faulty batch of polyol prior to entering the production line. Rapra Technology is continuing to progress the instrument's technology in line with future requirements, using valuable feedback from a growing number of SVNC operators.

Details available from: RapraTechnology Limited. Tel: +44 (0)1939 252300; Fax: +44 (0)1939 251118; e-mail: svnc@rapra.net; Website: www.rapra.net/curemeter