US company Sensor Products has developed a sensor film that, by changing colour, reveals stress distribution and magnitude between any two surfaces that come in contact. The intensity of the resultant colour is quantifiable and enables the user to determine precisely what the PSI is at any point on the contacting surfaces.

The film is said to be a valuable aid in r&d and quality control, for applications such as measuring roller pressure in the embossing and gravure processes.

Sensor Products has also upgraded its Auto-NIS portable, Windows based automatic nip profiler. Improved mathematical algorithms and software routines are said to produce more accurate and repeatable results.