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Abstract

An infrared gauge for, and a method of, measuring a parameter of a sample, e.g. moisture content or sample thickness, the gauge comprising: a source of infrared radiation directed at the sample, a detector for detecting the amount of infrared radiation transmitted, scattered or reflected from the sample at at least one measuring wavelength and at at least one reference wavelength, wherein the parameter absorbs infrared radiation at the at least one measuring wavelength and absorbs a lesser amount of infrared radiation at the at least one reference wavelength, and an algorithm processing unit for calculating the value of the parameter of interest from the intensity of radiation detected by the detector at the measuring and the reference wavelengths, the value of the parameter of interest being calculated according to the following equation: ##EQU1## where: P is the predicted value of the parameter concerned, for example film thickness or moisture content; a.sub.0, b.sub.0 and c.sub.0 are constants; i is 1, 2, 3 . . . and denotes the different wavelengths used; S.sub.i is the signal produced when the sample is exposed to a given wavelength i; a.sub.i and b.sub.i are constants; and f(S.sub.i) stands for a transformation applied to the signal S.sub.i. This provides improved accuracy of measuring the parameter.

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