Plastic Processing Equipment

As discussed in our previous article on Polymer Testing Equipment, plastic is fast becoming the most popular choice of material in manufacturing industries. As many readers have been asking me to give some details about Plastic Processing Equipment and methods, I took out time to inform our readers about the various methods involved in procuring finished plastic parts.
The family of polymers is extraordinarily large and varied. There are, however, some fairly broad and basic approaches that can be followed when designing or fabricating a product out of polymers or, more commonly, polymers compounded with other ingredients. The type of fabrication process to be adopted depends on the properties and characteristics of the polymer and on the shape and form of the final product.
In the broad classification of plastics there are two generally accepted categories: thermoplastic resins and thermosetting resins.

Polymer Testing Equipment

In today’s article, we will be discussing an important part of materials development and proper materials selection, i.e., testing and standardization of polymers with the Polymer Testing Equipment. The latter part of this article is therefore devoted to this aspect. It presents schematically (in simplified form) a number of standard test methods for plastics, highlighting the principles of the tests and the properties measured by them.

There are two stages in the process of becoming familiar with plastics. The first is rather general and involves an introduction to the unique molecular structures of polymers, their physical states, and transitions which have marked influence on their behavior. These have been dealt with in article “What is a Polymer”. The second stage, which will be treated in this article, is more specific in that it involves a study of the specific properties of plastics which dictate their applications.

What Is A Polymer- Polymer Engineering Solutions

A lot of plastic and polymer processing engineers often want to know what is a polymer. In an easy to understand engineer’s language, polymer is described as a material that is capable of flowing through the mold runner and gates to take a defined shape, when heated to a temperature, which is more than its melting point. To describe in the engineer’s language: A molecule has a group of atoms which have strong bonds among themselves but relatively weak bonds to adjacent molecules. Examples of small molecules are water (H2O), methanol (CH3OH), carbon dioxide, and so on. Polymers contain thousands to millions of atoms in a molecule which is large; they are also called macromolecules. Polymers are prepared by joining a large number of small molecules called monomers. Polymers can be thought of as big buildings, and monomers as the bricks that go into them.

Monomers are generally simple organic molecules containing a double bond or a minimum of two active functional groups. The presence of the double bond or active functional groups act as the driving force to add one monomer molecule upon the other repeatedly to make a polymer molecule. This process of transformation of monomer molecules to a polymer molecule is known as polymerization. For example, ethylene, the prototype monomer molecule, is very reactive because it has a double bond.

Injection Molding Troubleshooting for common design defects

Common Defects in Injection Molding and Plastic Injection Troubleshooting and Solutions
If you have been troubled by a lots of problems and errors during injection molding and looking for fast ways to troubleshoot them, then do not worry, you are at the right place. We will discuss about a lot of common errors that occur in injection molding cycle.

1.) Air bubbles in Injection Molded part/Blisters on part surface

A blister is a raised area on the plastic surface, very similar to the medical condition of the same name. Many people have no clue as to what's the reason of air bubble in injection molded part.It is generally the product of too much heat on the tool or by inadequate cooling or venting. Depending on the type of tool, you can also find areas where full coverage is not working. For instance, if the injector has a flow pattern issue, it might not inject all the resin at once, allowing air bubbles to enter the molten resin. A hot runner tool might also suck air into the die because of area constriction, slowing the passage of the resin.

Plastic Injection Mold Design and Process Tips

Plastic Injection Molding (Written as “Moulding” in British Form of English) has established a significant place in the manufacturing industry, mostly as plastic has emerged as the fastest growing construction material in use today. Plastic Injection mold design is a complicated part of Injection molding process and needs to be understood well in order to gain maximum benefits from Plastic, as properly designed plastic parts are fast replacing their metallic and wooden counterparts in almost all industrial and domestic machinery components. Not only have they successfully replaced huge car parts, such as panels, bumpers and dashboards, but also fine precision components such as the camera lens assemblies, including the clear lens itself, and numerous minute watch parts.

Modern Engineering plastics such as the Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP), Polybutylene Terephthalate (PBT),