Method for Fast Quality Evaluation of Deep‐drawn Paperboard Packaging Components

The visual and mechanical quality of paperboard packaging components formed by deep drawing closely corresponds to the wrinkle distribution within the material wall section. Assessing this quality of paperboard packaging components currently relies on very slow or even subjective methods. Therefore, counting the number of wrinkles and measuring the mean distance between wrinkles proved to be a sensitive strategy for the evaluation of quality levels in deep drawing formed paperboard containers like cups or trays. A method introduced by Hauptmann proposes the measurement of the distances between 10 wrinkles in machine direction and 10 wrinkles in cross direction for each sample. However, this method is unsatisfactory because it can only observe a small part of each sample and is subject to deviation through the individual judgement of the person carrying out the survey. Further methods, as well as their respective application range, are listed in Table  1 . Hence, it is desirable to automate the wrinkle survey to be carried out without operator influences to the measurement. This paper introduces such an automated measuring method. The given method relies on recording the sample surface topography through laser‐distance measurement. An evaluation algorithm, which enables the detection of wrinkles in the topographic data, is proposed. Furthermore, it is shown that the method yields feasible results and is capable of generating reliable quality information in considerably reduced time frames.