Theaerospace industry, automotive industry and medical sectors are concerned aboutdirect marking and traceability issues. Thanks to the highly developed readingand marking technologies of the present day, the problems inherent to theconventional and manual marking methods have been solved by the innovativeautomated marking technologies. This is why the AS9132 standard is extensivelyused for Dot Peen marking of Data Matrix codes.
Peoplewho are new to mightwonder what this standard is and why it is important. AS9132 is essentially anew Unique Item Identifier (UID) coding standard which defines the uniformity,quality and other technical requirements for Dot Peen marking and other metalcomponents using Data Matrix symbologies. This AS9132 standard also defines thestandard criteria essential to ensure electronic scanning or reading of thesymbol.The AS stands for Aerospace standard.It was originally developed by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE).
Specificguidelineswith regards to the direct part marking of aerospace components have beenissued by the Air Transport Association (ATA). These issued guidelines (SPEC2000, Chapter 9) state that permanent part identification using bar codetechnology and, in particular, Data Matrix symbologies must be undertaken. Themain objective is to mark a part with a ?unique identifier? to allow trackingof serialized parts during full life cycle of the parts and facilitate the useof automated processes in parts handling. Chapter 9 has explicitly mentioneddata content although technical requirements or quality for Dot Peen and othermarking technologies has not been mentioned.
specifies uniform qualitytechnical specifications that are required for 2D-Data Matrix symbols fordirect marking onto the metal surfaces. This new standard AS9132 helpsaccessing the quality of Data Matrix symbols which are marked directly onto thesurfaces of metal. AS9132 standardization helps evaluating the symbol qualityand receives a PASS or FAIL based on the six parameters that are included inthe standard.
Thesix parameters of AS9132 standard are described as follows.
Symbol contrast:
The difference in reflectancebetween the light and dark regions is the symbol contrast. But this symbolcontrast doesn't apply to Dot Peen dat a matrix symbols.
Dot center offset:
Dot center offset parameterrefers to the deviation of a round element from the actual center of a cell.
Angle of distortion:
It is the amount of deviationfrom a 90degree relation between the X and Y axes. An acceptable angle ofdistortion is plus or minus 7 degree.
Cell Fill:
The percentage of ideal cellsize that the element fills is called the cell fill area. 60% to 105% is theacceptable cell fill area.
Dot Ovality:
The extent to which roundelements deviate from an ideal circle is called Dot ovality region. Up to 20%deviation is acceptable.
Quiet Zone:
At least one element in width,quiet zone is the unmarked area around the symbol.
Oncethe symbol quality clears all the parameters of standard, thedata matrix symbols now are ready to be used as per the Department of Defense(DoD) norms.