The PaintChecker systems use the photothermal measuring process to determine the thickness of coatings on a wide variety of substrates. This contactless, non-destructive method is ideal for measuring paints, powder coatings and glazes on metallic and non-metallic substrates.

As with other non-destructive coating thickness measurement methods, e.g. ultrasonic, eddy current or induction, photothermal coating thickness is not measured directly, but calculated from measurement signals. It is therefore important to consider the individual thermal properties of the coating material and the substrate.

Thick, heavy coatings need more energy to heat up and cool down more slowly than thin, light coatings. During the measuring process, it is therefore important, as in photography, that the strength of the light source and the measuring time are optimally adjusted to the respective situation, in order to obtain accurate and reproducible measurement results.

In the case of powder coatings and paintwork, there is also the fact that the user often does not want to know the thickness of the powder or wet film that has just been applied, but the later, final thickness after baking or drying. To do this, the device must take into account the expected shrinkage of the coating material during curing.

The scope of delivery already includes applications for standard situations that cover a large range of typical coatings and substrates. In addition, each customer receives an application that is specially tailored to his needs, created by OptiSense on the basis of the coating samples provided. Additional applications can be ordered from OptiSense as an application service and can be stored permanently in the device.