Precise measurement of plastic bottle caps and bottle necks is critical to ensuring product quality, safety, and performance. Even minor deviations in dimensions, alignment, or sealing surfaces can lead to leaks, assembly issues, or production downtime, resulting in increased waste, higher labour costs, and potential reputational impact. High-precision inspection enables manufacturers to identify hidden defects, confirm compliance with specifications, and resolve issues early, ensuring consistent quality and reliability across production batches.
Background
Bottle leakage is a common issue in plastic packaging, often resulting in increased waste, production downtime, and higher labour costs due to the need for visual inspection and replacement. Conventional inspection methods can be time-consuming, susceptible to human error, and may not consistently detect subtle defects in bottle caps and bottlenecks. As such, manufacturers require faster and more reliable inspection solutions to ensure dimensional accuracy, maintain product integrity, and support efficient production processes.
In response to this need, our team has extended the use of 3D X-Ray CT inspection to plastic bottle caps and bottle necks. This approach enables us to address critical quality challenges while also unlocking new possibilities for applications that have not traditionally utilised this level of inspection technology.
Challenges
- Identify defects in bottle caps and bottle necks with greater accuracy compared to conventional visual inspection
- Provide inspection results with a quick turnaround to support continuous production
- Perform dimensional verification at defined intervals to ensure compliance with nominal specifications
- Focus on specific areas of interest to efficiently pinpoint the root causes of defects
Our Solution: 3D X-Ray CT Inspection
Leveraging advanced 3D X-Ray CT scanning to non-destructively evaluate the internal and external geometry of samples
3D CT Scanning:
- A high-resolution CT scan is performed on the sample with Waygate Technologies’ V|tome|x M X-Ray CT System, generating a volumetric dataset for comprehensive 3D reconstruction.
- Scanning parameters are optimised to ensure clarity and contrasts for critical features.
Software Platform:
- Scan data is process and reconstructed using Datos|s 2 Reconstruction and analysed using VGSTUDIO MAX (VG Software by Hexagon).
Execution
Alignment and reference systems
To ensure consistency across angular evaluations, 3-2-1 alignment methodology will be applied where reference plan axis and points are taken from the bottle neck and cross-sectional images are extracted at 60-degree increments from zero-degree position, ensuring full 360-degree coverage.
Dimensional measurement protocol
Quantitative analysis will then be conducted on each cross-sectional slice using the aligned 3D model.
Feature specific measurements:
- Critical dimensions are measured at each cross-sectional image according to customer defined requirements
- Tolerances and geometric parameters are evaluated using metrology tools in VGSTUDIO MAX when required
Precision criteria
Sub-voxel accuracy can be achieved through software calibration and high-resolution CT data.
Results and Benefits
- Reduced Downtime: Faster inspections will allow customers to focus on internal processes instead of manual visual checks.
- Higher Accuracy: 3D XCT inspection can provide detailed dimensional and structural insights not possible with traditional methods.
- Improved Productivity: Automated summarised report generation allows for rapid decision-making on production quality.
X-Ray CT inspection offers broad applicability across various industries. In addition to its well-established use in sectors such as Aerospace, Automotive, and Electronics, this technology can also be extended to industries that have not traditionally adopted advanced inspection solutions. This enables manufacturers to address critical quality and integrity challenges, enhance production efficiency, and achieve greater confidence in their products.