The  identiPol  QA2  has  three  modes  of  operation: Comparison,  Confirmation  and  Identificaon.  The Confirmation  mode  of  the  system  can  be  used  to confirm that a fresh batch or delivery of material from your  supplier  can  be  processed  without  issue.

First the system “learns” the properties of good material - in this case Polypropylene (PP) - by measuring 10 to 20 batches  of  good  material  that  have  previously  been processed without problems. These measurements are used  to  build  a  reference  set  against  which  future batches can be compared against.  

The identiPol system uses the Quality Index Score (QIS)  as a measure of similarity between in-coming material and a reference set. A QIS of 10 would indicate that the samples  are  totally  identical  and  a  value  of  0  would mean they are completely different. In practice values between 7 and 10  are perfectly acceptable in order to have confidence that the material may be put onto the production line with confidence.  The simplicity of using the QIS value as a measure of PASS (7 or over) or FAIL (less than 7) cannot be over emphasised as it enables new,  inexperienced  or  non-technical  staff  to  quickly make  a  judgement  prior  to  pung  material  into  the manufacturing process.  
Test  samples  are  prepared  by  moulding  a  couple  of plastic  granules  within  the  identiPol  QA2  to  give  a consistent  material  for  measurement.  This  is  then followed  by  a  second  heating  regime  to  measure  the properties of the new batch of material.  

A sample score between 4 and below 7, would usually indicate it is very similar, but a key property (e.g. a lower softening  temperature)  is  different.  Contamination  is one reason why a QIS value could drop below 7. If there is contamination in sufficient quantity to affect the QIS, then it will almost certainly affect either processing or product properties.  

In the example below the QIS value is shown for various samples of a PP component. The consistency of these batches  is  clear,  with  average  for  each  batch  scoring over 7. 

So, within 10-15 minutes of a new delivery, an operator can make a decision about the suitability of accepting and using the fresh material on the production line. 
Small  levels  of  contamination  can  make  a  large difference to the processability of a material and of the properties of the final moulded part.  
A fresh batch of material, contaminated with only 6% of PE (Polyethylene), was then evaluated using the QA2.  The QIS value is seen to drop to zero with only a small amount of contamination, illustrating the sensivity of the  QA2  to  detecting  differences  between  batches  of material.

The  identiPol  QA2  has  three  modes  of  operation: Comparison,  Confirmation  and  Identification.  The Confirmation  mode  of  the  system  can  be  used  to confirm that a fresh batch or delivery of material from your  supplier  can  be  processed  without  issue.

First the system “learns” the properties of good material - in this case Polypropylene (PP) - by measuring 10 to 20 batches  of  good  material  that  have  previously  been processed without problems. These measurements are used  to  build  a  reference  set  against  which  future batches can be compared against.  

The  identiPol  system  uses  the  QIS  as  a  measure  of similarity between in-coming material and the reference set. A QIS of  10 would indicate that the samples are totally identical and a value of 0 would mean they are completely different. In practice values between 7 and 10  are perfectly acceptable in order to have confidence that the material may be put onto the production line with confidence.  The simplicity of using the QIS value as a  measure  of  PASS  (7  or  over)  or  FAIL  (less  than  7) cannot  be  over  emphasised  as  it  enables  new, inexperienced or non-technical staff to quickly make a judgement  prior  to  putting  material  into  the manufacturing process.  
 

In the example below the QIS value is shown for various samples of a PP component. The consistency of these batches  is  clear,  with  average  for  each  batch  scoring over 7. 

So, within 10-15 minutes of a new delivery, an operator can make a decision about the suitability of accepting and using the fresh material on the production line. 
Small  levels  of  contamination  can  make  a  large difference to the processability of a material and of the properties of the final moulded part.  
A fresh batch of material, contaminated with only 6% of PE (Polyethylene), was then evaluated using the QA2.