LEIPZIG - Testing and measuring equipment specialist Emtec will offer a live demonstration of its latest testing solution for optimal comfort and handfeel of nonwovens at the upcoming IDEA exhibition.
As the company notes, manufacturers of nonwovens take into account several factors when it comes to assessing the comfort level, or hand-feel, of base materials and finished goods such as feminine care products, baby diapers, and hygienic wipes. The most important parameters are the softness, smoothness, and stiffness, which combine to make up the haptic of the material, as well as the material’s behavior when pressed, crumpled, or stretched.
Taken together, these individual characteristics make up the product’s comfortability, or how aesthetically pleasing the material is to touch and feel.
These parameters are traditionally measured using panels of touch experts from the industry, who rank the products based on a subjective evaluation of hand-feel. The process can be time-consuming, however, since many samples and many rankings are needed to come up with a reliable and reproducible value for a product’s hand-feel.
Modern devices such as the TSA Tactile Sensation Analyzer from Emtec Electronic GmbH rely instead on special algorithms to arrive at a number value for a product’s tactile feel that has a high correlation with hand-panel results. Unlike the hand-panel tests, the entire process can be completed within 90 seconds.
The Leipzig-based firm will present the Tactile Sensation Analyzer at Booth 5016 during IDEA, which takes place from March 28-31, 2022 in Miami Beach, Florida.
The 25-year-old company specializes in the manufacture of measuring and testing equipment for paper, board, textiles and nonwovens industries and serves customers in more than 80 countries around the world.
