A downloadable PDF FIle from Mikron Infrared describes the use of IR Thermometers in manufacturing operations using thermoformed plastic sheet materials.

Thermoforming Applications: Thermoforming Temperature Measurement

The Thermoforming Application

Thermoforming is the process of using heating elements and/or cooling elements to mold or shape
some type of material. Typically this material will be a type of plastic.

The process follows a path from extrusion to molding. Most thermoforming companies will use extrusion machines to extrude the plastic, which then will be pulled into an oven and heated until it reaches a certain temperature.

Once this temperature has been obtained the plastic is moved out of the oven into a cooling and molding zone. Usually the machine runs on a timer so the temperature of the plastic varies and is inconsistent within the oven.

The plastic is molded and cooled either by water-cooling or air-cooling. Most applications use water-cooling either sprayed onto the plastic or pushed through the metal mold.

Finally, the plastic is moved to a cutting zone where the shapes are cut out of the plastic. This can be done either manually or automatically as well.

This application has a couple of different sections that are ideal for infrared pyrometers and imaging.
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The 9th Quantitative InfraRed Thermography conference, QIRT2008, July 2–5, 2008 Kraków, Poland, will be preceded by several special training courses.

The Courses are scheduled on Wednesday, July 2, 2008.
The tuition is € 100 (380 PLN) for one or more courses. Two courses will be presented in paralel, in the morning (A and B) and afternoon (C and D).

(A) Basic Thermography (4 hours)

by Prof. X. Maldague, Université Laval, Canada
by Prof. V. Vavilov, Tomsk Polytechnic University, Russia

(B) Applications of Thermography to Thermo-Fluid-Dynamics (3 hours)

by Prof. G. M. Carlomagno, Universita di Napoli Federico II, Italy

(C) Application of thermography to buildings (3 hours)

by Prof. E. Grinzato, CNR-ITC, Padova, Italy

(D) Medical Thermography (1 day)

by Prof. E. F. J. Ring, Dr P. Plassmann, Prof. K. Ammer, Dr R. Thomas; Medical Imaging Research Group, Faculty of Advanced Technology, University of Glamorgan, UK

(E) Application of dynamic thermography to Nondestructive Testing (3 hours)

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SPIE ThermoSense Applications Papers - From the Wednesday & Thursday, Sessions March 2008

Session 8: Research Topics
Date: Wednesday 19 March
Time: 8:40 AM - 10:00 AM
Session Chairs: Morteza Safai, The Boeing Co.; Gary L. Orlove, FLIR Systems, Inc.
Thermography investigations and numerical analysis of turbulent and laminar flow at light-weight structures
Paper 6939-20
Time: 8:40 AM - 9:00 AM
Author(s): Ralf W. Arndt, Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (Germany); Alexander Gaulke, Mike Schlaich, Technische Univ. Berlin (Germany)

Electrochromic device for satellite thermal control
Paper 6939-21
Time: 9:00 AM - 9:20 AM
Author(s): Hulya Demiryont, Eclipse Energy Systems, Inc.

Using lock-in infrared thermography for the visualization of the hand vascular tree
Paper 6939-22
Time: 9:20 AM - 9:40 AM
Author(s): Nabila Bouzida, Abdelhakim Bendada, Jean-Marc A. Piau, Moulay Akhloufi, Xavier P. V.Maldague, Mathieu Raymond, Univ. Laval (Canada)

Active thermography for potato characterization
Paper 6939-23
Time: 9:40 AM - 10:00 AM
Author(s): Sheng-Jen Hsieh, Chih-Chen Sun, Texas Agricultural & Mechanical Univ.

Session 9: Products and Processes
Date: Wednesday 19 March
Time: 10:30 AM - 11:10 AM
Session Chairs: Andrés E. Rozlosnik, SI Termografía Infrarroja (Argentina); Gregory R. Stockton, Stockton Infrared Thermographic Services, Inc.

Arc welding quality monitoring by means of near-infrared imaging spectroscopy
Paper 6939-24
Time: 10:30 AM - 10:50 AM
Author(s): Pilar Beatriz García-Allende, Jesus M. Mirapeix, Adolfo Cobo, Olga M. Conde, Jose M. Lopez-Higuera, Univ. de Cantabria (Spain)

Infrared thermography applied for outdoor power substations
Paper 6939-25
Time: 10:50 AM - 11:10 AM
Author(s): Laerte dos Santos, Furnas Centrais Elétricas S.A. (Brazil); Edson C. da Costa Bortoni, Luiz E. de Souza, Guilherme S. Bastos, Univ. Federal de Itajubá (Brazil)

Session 10: Environmental Investigations
Date: Wednesday 19 March
Time: 11:10 AM - 11:50 AM
Session Chairs: Gregory R. Stockton, Stockton Infrared Thermographic Services, Inc.; Andrés E. Rozlosnik, SI Termografía Infrarroja (Argentina)

Aerial measurements of convection cell elements in heated lakes
Paper 6939-27
Time: 11:10 AM - 11:30 AM
Author(s): Eliel Villa-Aleman, Alfred J. Garret, Malcolm M. Pendergast, Timothy B. Brown, Saleem R. Salaymeh, Savannah River National Lab.

Direct measurement of heat flux from cooling lake thermal imagery
Paper 6939-26
Time: 11:30 AM - 11:50 AM
Author(s): Alfred J. Garrett, Eliel Villa-Aleman, Robert J. Kurzeja, Malcolm M. Pendergast, Savannah River National Lab.; John Saylor, Clemson Univ.

Session 11: NDT of Buildings and Civil Structures
Date: Wednesday 19 March
Time: 1:40 PM - 4:50 PM
Session Chairs: Kathryn M. Knettel, United Space Alliance, LLC; Nicolas P. Avdelidis, EBETAM S.A. (Greece); Timo T. Kauppinen, VTT (Finland)

Thermography as a tool for building applications and diagnostics
Paper 6939-29
Time: 1:40 PM - 2:00 PM
Author(s): Nicolas P. Avdelidis, EBETAM S.A. (Greece); Timo T. Kauppinen, VTT (Finland)

A nondestructive method for diagnostic of insulated building walls using infrared thermography in real situation
Paper 6939-30
Time: 2:00 PM - 2:20 PM
Author(s): Mohamed Larbi Youcef, Atef Mazioud, Univ. Paris 12 Val-de-Marne (France); Pierre Bremond, Cedip Infrared Systems (France); Laurent Ibos, Yves Candau, Univ. Paris 12 Val-de-Marne (France); Michel Piro, EDF (France); Alain Filloux, Alphéeis (France)

Crack detection and fatigue related delamination in FRP composites applied to concrete
Paper 6939-31
Time: 2:20 PM - 2:40 PM
Author(s): Jeff R. Brown, Robyn Anderson, Rebecca L. Baker, Lisa Kallemeyn, Hope College

Square-pulse thermography in frequency domain
Paper 6939-32
Time: 2:40 PM - 3:00 PM
Author(s): Ralf W. Arndt, Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (Germany)

Building material characterization by using IR thermography for efficient heating systems
Paper 6939-33
Time: 3:30 PM - 3:50 PM
Author(s): Ermanno G. Grinzato, Paolo G. Bison, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (Italy)

Defect evaluation based on passive lock-in thermography for concrete structure
Paper 6939-34
Time: 3:50 PM - 4:10 PM
Author(s): Daisuke Sato, Concrete Soft Technical Engineering Corp. (Japan); Takahide Sakagami, Osaka Univ. (Japan); Tatsuhito Komiyama, Concrete Soft Technical Engineering Corp. (Japan); Shiro Kubo, Osaka Univ. (Japan)

Quantitative evaluation of defect depth in concrete structures using Fourier analysis for sequential thermal data
Paper 6939-35
Time: 4:10 PM - 4:30 PM
Author(s): Shiro Nakamura, Sumitomo Osaka Cement Co., Ltd. (Japan); Takahide Sakagami, Osaka Univ. (Japan); Shuusuke Harada, Sumitomo Osaka Cement Co., Ltd. (Japan); Shiro Kubo, Osaka Univ. (Japan)

Localization of wood floor structure in infrared themography
Paper 6939-54
Time: 4:30 PM - 4:50 PM
Author(s): C. Cochior-Plescanu, Matthieu T. Klein, Clemente Ibarra-Castanedo, Abdel Hakim Bendada, Xavier P. V.Maldague, Univ. Laval (Canada)

Thursday 20 March
Session 12: NDT Numerical Analysis and Theory
Date: Thursday 20 March
Time: 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Session Chairs: Vladimir P. Vavilov, Tomsk Polytechnic Univ. (Russia); Douglas D. Burleigh, La Jolla Cove Consulting; K. Elliott Cramer, NASA Langley Research Ctr.

Physics-based processing for static and dynamic industrial thermograms
Paper 6939-36
Time: 8:00 AM - 8:20 AM
Author(s): Mohammed A. Omar, Clemson Univ.; Yi Zhou, Clemson Univ; Tomokazu Okuno, Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.

Accuracy issues in modeling thermal NDT problems
Paper 6939-37
Time: 8:20 AM - 8:40 AM
Author(s): Vladimir P. Vavilov, Denis Nesteruk, Tomsk Polytechnic Univ. (Russia); Sergio Marinetti, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (Italy)

IR-View: a straightforward graphical user interface for basic and advanced signal processing of thermographic infrared sequences
Paper 6939-38
Time: 8:40 AM - 9:00 AM
Author(s): Matthieu T. Klein, Clemente Ibarra-Castanedo, Xavier P. V.Maldague, Abdelhakim Bendada, Univ. Laval (Canada)

Thermographic signal processing through correlation operators in pulsed thermography
Paper 6939-39
Time: 9:00 AM - 9:20 AM
Author(s): Matthieu T. Klein, Clemente Ibarra-Castanedo, Abdelhakim Bendada, Xavier P. V.Maldague, Univ. Laval (Canada)

Quantitative characterization of delaminations in thick composites using step heating thermography
Paper 6939-40
Time: 9:20 AM - 9:40 AM
Author(s): Adel A. Badghaish, David C. Fleming, Florida Institute of Technology

Measurement accuracy in thermographic NDT
Paper 6939-41
Time: 9:40 AM - 10:00 AM
Author(s): Steven M. Shepard, YuLin Hou, Thermal Wave Imaging, Inc.

Session 13: NDT Methods and Applications
Date: Thursday 20 March
Time: 10:30 AM - 12:10 PM
Session Chairs: Douglas D. Burleigh, La Jolla Cove Consulting; Vladimir P. Vavilov, Tomsk Polytechnic Univ. (Russia); Ermanno G. Grinzato, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (Italy)

A study of active thermography approaches for the nondestructive testing and evaluation of aerospace structures
Paper 6939-42
Time: 10:30 AM - 10:50 AM
Author(s): Nicolas P. Avdelidis, EBETAM S.A. (Greece); Clemente Ibarra-Castanedo, Jean-Marc A. Piau, Abdel Hakim Bendada, Xavier P. V.Maldague, Univ. Laval (Canada)

Fuselage inspection of Boeing 737 using lock-in thermography
Paper 6939-43
Time: 10:50 AM - 11:10 AM
Author(s): Markus Tarin, MoviMED and Automation Technology (Germany) and FLIR

Thermal imaging of fatigue damage to composites after low-velocity impact (Presentation Only)
Paper 6939-44
Time: 11:10 AM - 11:30 AM
Author(s): Jeff R. Brown, Bradley Lininger, David Visser, Hope College

Thermographic nondestructive testing using inductive thermal excitation
Paper 6939-45
Time: 11:30 AM - 11:50 AM
Author(s): Morteza Safai, The Boeing Co.

Real-time infrared thermography testing on composite materials: through transmission and one-sided techniques
Paper 6939-46
Time: 11:50 AM - 12:10 PM
Author(s): Marcus R. Harty, Wyle Labs.

Session 14: Materials Evaluation: Thermal and Fatigue Properties
Date: Thursday 20 March
Time: 1:30 PM - 3:30 PM
Session Chairs: Takahide Sakagami, Osaka Univ. (Japan); Pierre Bremond, Cedip Infrared Systems (France); Jeff R. Brown, Hope College

Nondestructive thermal diffusivity mapping of refractory bricks
Paper 6939-47
Time: 1:30 PM - 1:50 PM
Author(s): Ralph B. Dinwiddie, James G. Hemrick, Oak Ridge National Lab.

Development of a self-reference lock-in thermography and its applications to nondestructive testing
Paper 6939-48
Time: 1:50 PM - 2:10 PM
Author(s): Takahide Sakagami, Shiro Kubo, Osaka Univ. (Japan)

Influence of ultrasonic vibration mode on sonic IR
Paper 6939-49
Time: 2:10 PM - 2:30 PM
Author(s): Manyong Choi, Kisoo Kang, Jeonghak Park, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (South Korea); Wontae Kim, Kongju National Univ. (South Korea)

Thermal stress analysis of a circular-holed specimen
Paper 6939-50
Time: 2:30 PM - 2:50 PM
Author(s): Wontae Kim, Kongju National Univ. (South Korea); Kisoo Kang, Manyong Choi, Jeonghak Park, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (South Korea); Koungsuk Kim, Chosun Univ. (South Korea)

Simulating thermal NDT of bonded structures
Paper 6939-51
Time: 2:50 PM - 3:10 PM
Author(s): Xingwang Guo, Fang Qie, Beihang Univ. (China)