Know-How
INJECTION MOLDING: How to Tell If Your Non-Return Valve Is Leaking
Check valves are potentially troublesome devices. Here’s how to find out if yours is behaving properly.
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The Mystery of Physical Aging, Part 1: Knowing the Difference
In polymers, aging is commonly considered essentially synonymous with oxidation. But there are important differences between this type of chemical aging and less commonly recognized physical aging. Let’s unlock the mystery.
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TOOLING: Flash-Free Molding: Part 1
A robust process window relies a lot on tooling. So it stands to reason that making a tool change to address issues provides a more robust solution
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EXTRUSION: Double Flights Are Not a Cure-All
There are certain applications where double-flighted feed sections make sense, and others where they don’t.
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INJECTION MOLDING: How Does Your Machine Control Pack Velocity?
You’ll need to find out in order to develop a molding process that you can repeat from machine to machine and mold to mold.
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MATERIALS: Don’t Guess Your Way through Root Cause Analysis: Part 2
The huge chasm between the laboratory and manufacturing discipline usually does not lend itself to problem-solving. It can be improved with clear communication between the analysis laboratory and the people bringing the problem to the lab.
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BLOW MOLDING: The Role of Screw Design in Industrial Blow Molding
Screw design is seldom discussed when buying a new machine. In fact, it should be near the top of the list.
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EXTRUSION: Why Barrier Screws & Rigid PVC Don’t Always Mix
RPVC’s somewhat unusual melting mechanism makes it unsuited to traditional barrier type designs.
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INJECTION MOLDING: The Importance of Nominal Wall For Lightweighting Molded Parts
Establishing a nominal wall is one of the most important decisions an engineer makes when designing parts. Understanding how design changes will impact the manufacturing process is critical to ensure the part performs as expected.
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MATERIALS: Don’t Guess Your Way Through Root Cause Analysis
More than 50 different polymer test techniques can be used to find root causes of problems. Of these, five or six are fairly common. Use them to take the guesswork out of why a product failed.
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