ABB has enhanced its L&W Bending Tester with new features to deliver easier and more reliable operator-independent bending resistance and stiffness measurements.
The L&W Bending Tester, which measures resistance to bending in paper and packaging, is a standalone benchtop instrument featuring a large touchscreen with user-friendly interface and improved post-processing for ease-of-use and instrument check and calibration. Integration with other ABB offerings, such as L&W Lab Management System (LMS), also means connectivity to the full Quality Data Management module within the larger Manufacturing Execution System (MES), enabling greater visibility of quality data across the mill and enterprise.
The new features aim to address the pain points faced by lab and quality managers in mills to ensure optimised bending properties from accurate resistance and stiffness testing, important in the handling and protection of packaging products. Low bending resistance/stiffness can cause runnability issues during printing of paper, foldability issues during converting of board into packaging boxes, and stackability issues during handling and storage of packaging boxes. Accurate measurement of bending properties is therefore critical to ensure specifications are met and these issues avoided, which in turn will improve productivity and costs.
Several new features enhance the ease-of-use for operators and help them to overcome challenges associated with older, complex or difficult-to-operate instruments:
- A test piece is clamped automatically and precisely with a support for easy sample loading, aiding the operator and leading to a repeatable measurement process;
- A new ergonomically placed start button is pressed, and the testing sequence starts automatically with an improved auto-touch function;
- A large touchscreen with customizable programs, options for instrument check and calibration, and adjustable testing speed and bending angle makes it easy for the operator to select the right options and program settings.
In addition, bending length is automatically detected, which ensures the correct settings are selected every time. On-screen results include an overview of the measurement series and a graphical display of the bending curve with break angle/force. Notably, this model also accommodates bending lengths as short as 1mm or as long as 50mm.
