Conductive sensors
Conductive sensors quantify heat transfer by conduction in solids.
In casting processes, they would be ideally be placed at the interface between matter and mold. For robustness and non-marking reasons, we place them inside the tool. Value obtained in the tool approaches thermal gradient between the processed material and mold, giving thereby access to materials developments and thermally-linked changes during processing.
Applications: Characterization processes like :
Injection of thermoplastic: flow front detection, detection of defects like incomplete parts or changes in melt index, over molding monitoring, cooling time
Injection of thermoset, BMC: cure monitoring, abnormal injection detection (over-heating)
Compression of thermoset, SMC, C-RTM: cure monitoring and control
Resin Transfer Molding, RTM, Infusion: flow front detection, cure monitoring
Thermoplastic Compression, GMT, Stamping: heat transfer and cooling control
Thermoforming: control of cooling, variations in thickness in areas of high strain
Pultrusion: control and steering of the cooking, optimizing speed line
Extrusion: controlling the process stability
And of course, many other possibilities (metallic casting)...
See also : Convective sensors, Radiative Sensors
