Postprocessing
Thermoforming Troubleshooter: Avoid Pitfalls in Twin-Sheet Forming
Twin-sheet thermoforming is a promising but challenging process for making hollow or double-walled industrial parts.
Read MoreWhy All Eyes Are on In-Mold Decorating
Solid colors, woodgrains, brushed metal, or bright chrome.
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Thermoforming Goes Paint-Free, Too
Thermoformed parts play two roles in the expanding field of in-mold decorating (IMD) of plastic parts: For injection molding, IMD begins by thermoforming a thin film into decorative shells that are placed in the injection mold cavity and then back-molded with a compatible substrate.
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Where the Action Is: Decorating with Formable Films
Plastics processors are eyeing form able films as an economical, durable, and environmentally friendly means of producing fully decorated parts right out of the mold.
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NPE News Wrap-Up: Decorating & Painting
The Chicago show presented a whole new way to decorate. There were also plenty of improvements in ink-jet and pad printing, hot stamping, laser marking, and surface treating.
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New Welding Technologies — Why They Grabbed Attention at NPE
The spotlight in plastics welding and assembly at NPE 2003 was focused on laser, infrared, and ultrasonic equipment.
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Welding, Bonding & Assembly at NPE 2003
New approaches to joining plastic parts will attract attention at this NPE, where an array of new models of many types will be at work and several new suppliers will be on hand.
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Decorating, Printing & Finishing at NPE 2003
NPE will amply reflect the wide variety of plastics decorating and finishing options, with exhibits of pad, screen, ink-jet, dry-offset, flexo, and gravure printing technologies, as well as hot stamping/heat-transfer decorating, laser marking, and spray painting.
Read MoreFull-Body Labels Brighten Face of Blow Molding
Heinz, Nestle, Dannon, Tropicana, and other packagers have discovered an eye-catching way to launch new food products: They design a shapely blow molded bottle, then totally envelop it with a brightly colored shrink or stretch label. This marketing concept could launch tens of billions of plastic bottles in the next few years.
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Laser Marking Has a Bright Future in Plastics
Fast, programmable, environmentally clean laser marking has established a niche in basic marking of dates and product codes, but it is capable of much more. The market has barely touched the repertoire of decorative effects available with today's wider range of laser-markable resins, pigmentation technology, and laser equipment.
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