David Roisum, Ph.D.
Let’s begin the new year talking about new tech. The following questions were given to a modern AI model; the name is withheld here to protect the guilty. These questions spanned a wide swath of topics and were selected because they are well posed and have well known answers. I have shortened the AI response (hopefully with all fairness) to capture the highlights. Being the teacher, I get to (have to) grade the answers.
A: Consider speed, material properties, and application.
Grade: FThis is near total hallucination. A minimum diameter is usually determined by maximum allowable deflection, which is in turn determined by width, maximum tension, and nip loads, as well as desired machine quality. And we even have a free app for that if you don’t want to spring for either of the books or one of the web-handling courses that have detailed treatment of the topic of sizing rollers.
A: Ten percent of the tension that would damage the web.
Grade: BTen percent to 25% of MD tensile strength would probably be a better answer because it reflects a Goldilocks range instead of a single value.
A: initiation location, look for shadows, roller contact, shear wrinkles, tension wrinkles, thickness variations, temperature, roller drag.
Grade: CThe free Wrinkle Troubleshooter by AbbottApps lets anyone from operator to Ph.D. to begin diagnoses.
A: … bowed rollers.
Grade: BConcave roller taping might be more common. Also, bowed rollers are not suitable for narrow widths.
A: Displacement guide.
Grade: A
A: A web such as paper or film being strained beyond its yield point due to uneven weight distribution or an uneven nip, leading to accordion-like folds.
A: Reduce web temperature entering the winder and ensure the roll hardness profile starts tight at the core and gradually loosens as the roll builds up.
Grade: DReduce all of the TNTs (tension, nip, and traction) start to finish, reduce temperature only when the material entering the winder is noticeably above room temperature.
Although the average grade for the questions was a C+, there were many wrong suggestions thoroughly mixed with mostly correct ones. Worse yet, a hallucination (yes, this is a technical term used in the AI trade) was found on the very first and probably easiest question. Presuming that implementing answers will cost money, the AI’s (or any source’s) answers should be checked. The references cited were lazy, using easy-to-find websites instead of refereed and copyrighted higher quality content such as found in conference papers, columns, course notes, and books. You get what you pay for, as they say, and the good stuff is usually found behind paywalls. Finally, there was no context, just a list of things to try without much nuance, explanation or exceptions.
Web handling is probably best left for humans for the moment. █
David Roisum, Ph.D., is principal of Finishing Technologies, Inc. He can be reached at 920-312-8466, roisum.com, drroisum@aol.com, or webhandlingblog.com.
