Know-How
The Right Way to Design Vents in Single-Screw Extruders
Designing vents for single-screw extruders requires understanding of polymer flow in the screw channels. Some designs are more effective than others. Here are some guidelines.
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The Importance of Melt & Mold Temperature
Molders should realize how significantly process conditions can influence the final properties of the part.
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Extruder Alignment: Important, but Only Half the Equation
The other half? Aligning and supporting downstream equipment. Here are best practices.
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Understanding Flow Fronts and Defects
Flow-front behavior and corrections are key to solving many common molding problems —what is your process’s flow trying to tell you about your part?
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Tracing the History of Polymeric Materials: Silicones
More properly known as siloxanes, silicones are a class of materials where no carbon is present in the polymer backbone.
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How Do You Estimate Cycle Time?
Molders price jobs based on estimated press time, and that is where you can either be very profitable or lose your shirt. But there’s a new, free resource to help you out.
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Hot Runners: A View from the Bottom Up
Addressing hot-runner benefits, improvements, and everyday issues from the perspective of decades of experience with probably every brand on the market. Part 1 of 2.
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How Do You Like Your Acetal: Homopolymer or Copolymer?
Acetal materials have been a commercial option for more than 50 years.
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PBT and PET Polyester: The Difference Crystallinity Makes
To properly understand the differences in performance between PET and PBT we need to compare apples to apples—the semi-crystalline forms of each polymer.
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Tracing the History of Polymeric Materials: Polyphenylene Oxide Blends
PPO was a promising new high-performance thermoplastic, but it could be made useful only by mixing it with a humble commodity resin.
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