Vantage compression/softness tester

The Vantage Compression/Softness Tester is a compact, PC-controlled instrument that provides an objective measure of material softness by evaluating sample loft, thickness, compressibility and structural softness of sheet materials including paper tissue, toweling, nonwovens and textiles.

Utilizing cutting-edge technology, all electronics and controls are fully integrated into the test frame enabling the connection to a standard PC with a serial port. No external control boxes or additional PC interface cards are required.

Other benefits include a movable test-control keypad, one-touch auto zero and a software based automatic calibration system.

For the highest level of accuracy, the Vantage Compression/Softness Tester compresses test plates to a user-defined force value with no sample installed, resulting in a curve that represents the deflection of the machine, load cell and fixture. This curve is subtracted from the test curves, which removes all instrument deflection that could affect test results.

During a test, thickness values are captured until the maximum load is reached. Thickness values are captured in both the compression and recovery phase resulting in two unique curves. The distance between the two curves represents energy lost and is a function of several properties including loft, thickness, compression/recovery and structural softness.