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Hostile Environments (Radioactive, Very High Temperature, Cryogenic)

Fiber-based probe technology permits Novacam’s low coherence profilometers to operate in hostile environments which can be:

     radioactive very hot, or cryogenic.

This adaptability is due to several key features of the profilometer system:

• Fiber-based probes (Figure 1) can be physically located hundreds of meters away from the interferometer enclosure without signal degradation.
• The small, rugged non-contact probes operate at a standoff distance of a few mm to 150 mm from the measured surface.
• If damaged or contaminated, the low-cost probes – not the interferometer itself – need be replaced or decontaminated.

Examples of applications:

Very hot: In industries that handle extremely hot liquids such as red-hot steel, metals in continuous casting or plasma coating (Figure 2), the probes scan the surface in-process on a continuous basis, measuring micron-sized variations in the liquid surface whether the material is evaporating, melting, or solidifying on a production line. Characteristics including surface roughness or coating thickness are delivered at high speed to help detect defects such as minute surface cracks.

Radioactive: Low coherence profilometers measure the pitting of radioactive targets and detect cracks in weld inspection in reactor cooling systems.

Cryogenic: Low coherence profilometers measure the level of liquid Nitrogen in cryogenic chambers.

Other: Inside evaporation chambers, in-process measurements of the semi-conductor or metal coating deposition thickness determine the optimal stopping time of the coating process.

• For more details on optical profilometry measurements in hostile environments, please contact us.
• For our products, see Novacam’s profilometers.

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