Precision Ultrasonic Gaging - Plastics

Plastic, Fiberglass, and Composites

As the use of nonmetallic engineering materials in manufacturing has increased, so has the need to measure their wall thickness for quality control. All common plastics, fiberglass, and composites can be measured ultrasonically, with access to only one side required.

Bottles and containers - Manufacturers of blow-molded and roto-molded bottles and containers need to check wall thickness, which is usually inaccessible to micrometers. Ultrasonic gaging requires no cutting.

Plastic pipe - Both on-line and off-line measurement of plastic pipe wall thickness can be performed to insure concentricity.

Plastic tubing - Small tubing with diameters as small as 2 mm or 0.080", including catheters and other including medical tubing, can be measured with focused transducers.

Cable jacket and wire insulation - Thickness of plastic insulation on both large and small electrical and fiber optic cable can me measured to insure concentricity and compliance with minimum thickness specifications.

Plastic preforms - Both structural plastic and barrier layers can be measured in the preform stage to help insure proper thickness in the final product.

Multilayer containers and tanks - Similarly, in many cases ultrasonic gages can measure gas barrier and other layer thicknesses in multilayer bottles, food containers, fuel tanks, and similar products.

Fiberglass pipes and tanks - These products can be measured both in manufacturing and following installation to verify wall thickness and detect delaminations.

Fiberglass boats - Boat manufacturers and marine surveyors can measure hull thickness, using high penetration gages if necessary for larger boats. Gelcoat thickness can also be measured with a second setup.

Composite structures - Aerospace composites in the form of wing and body panels, radomes, and similar fabrications can be measured for thickness and tested for delaminations with simple ultrasonic gages.

For more detailed information, go to thickness measurement

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