Coating thickness measurement is the first major industrial field of application for terahertz technology. This method is used, for example, in the automotive industry or in aircraft construction, where components made of coated plastics or fiber composites are increasingly being used. Terahertz measurement technology reliably and non-destructively records the thickness of the thin layers of paint or lacquer on the components and can check these in real time during industrial production processes. Other fields of application include astronomy and atmospheric research, security technology, medical technology and communications engineering.
The German Institute for Standardization (DIN) has now published a guideline (DIN 50996) that defines the procedure for non-destructive coating thickness measurement of non-metallic coatings using time-domain spectroscopy in the terahertz frequency range. With their experience in the field of coating inspection using terahertz technology, the experts from the Fraunhofer ITWM's Materials Characterization and Testing department played a decisive role in the drafting of the DIN standard.
