What is a powder cure window?

The range the chemistry accepts on one axis, such as 10 to 18 minutes at metal temperature. Inside it the film cures to specification; below is under-cure and above risks over-bake.

How do you check if a cure reading passes?

Compare it to both limits and take the smaller distance. A reading of 12 in a 10-to-18 window has margins of 2 and 6, so it passes by 2 before the probe is considered.

Why subtract measurement uncertainty from the margin?

A margin smaller than the probe's plus-or-minus is not a demonstrated pass. A reading of 17.5 against an 18 ceiling with a ±1 probe could truly be 18.5, so the data cannot distinguish pass from fail.

What happens below the cure window?

Incomplete crosslinking: adhesion, hardness and chemical resistance land below specification while gloss and color can look normal, so the failure ships and surfaces at the customer. That is why the below-floor case blocks.

Finishing calculator

Powder Cure Window Calculator: Margin Net of the Probe

Judge one cure reading against its TDS window. Enter the measured value, both limits and the probe's uncertainty; the page reports pass or fail and the margin net of the measurement.

What this calculator does

Check a cure reading against the TDS window and report the margin after the probe's own uncertainty.

Formula used

Nearest margin = smaller of (measured − minimum) and (maximum − measured)
Inside window = 1 when the nearest margin is at least zero
Margin net of uncertainty = nearest margin − measurement uncertainty
Window width = maximum − minimum

Inputs explained

Measured Cure Value: The datalogged peak metal temperature or minutes at temperature.
Minimum Cure Specification Limit: TDS window floor; below it the film is under-cured.
Maximum Cure Specification Limit: TDS window ceiling; beyond it over-bake risks color shift.
Measurement Uncertainty: Probe, placement and logger error combined, on the same axis.

How to use the result

Best suited to judging a datalogged cure run, deciding whether a near-limit pass ships, trending cure margin as a drift alarm.
A single point is not a cure integral: peak temperature and time above threshold both matter. The page cannot see where the probe sat; a light-section pass proves nothing about a casting. Cure tests such as solvent rub outrank any clock-and-probe judgment.

Current U.S. benchmarks

Industrial electricity averages 9.77 cents per kWh across the U.S. (EIA, Jul 2026), up 4.7% from a year earlier. Energy-intensive steps carry this directly into unit cost.
The producer price index for industrial chemicals stands at 336.006 (BLS, Aug 2026), up 13.3% from a year earlier. Quotes priced off last quarter's material cost miss this move.
The U.S. has 14,543 chemical manufacturing establishments employing about 911,245 workers (Census County Business Patterns, 2023).

Common questions

What is a powder cure window? The range the chemistry accepts on one axis, such as 10 to 18 minutes at metal temperature. Inside it the film cures to specification; below is under-cure and above risks over-bake.
How do you check if a cure reading passes? Compare it to both limits and take the smaller distance. A reading of 12 in a 10-to-18 window has margins of 2 and 6, so it passes by 2 before the probe is considered.
Why subtract measurement uncertainty from the margin? A margin smaller than the probe's plus-or-minus is not a demonstrated pass. A reading of 17.5 against an 18 ceiling with a ±1 probe could truly be 18.5, so the data cannot distinguish pass from fail.
What happens below the cure window? Incomplete crosslinking: adhesion, hardness and chemical resistance land below specification while gloss and color can look normal, so the failure ships and surfaces at the customer. That is why the below-floor case blocks.

Last reviewed 2026-10-01.