best practices
Understanding Strain-Rate Sensitivity In Polymers
Material behavior is fundamentally determined by the equivalence of time and temperature. But that principle tends to be lost on processors and designers. Here’s some guidance.
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Creating a Capable Process Using Process Capability
Know your Cp from your Cpk and how parts can meet dimensional specifications but still not be “capable.”
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How Screw Design Can Mitigate Gels in PE Films
Gels are a constant issue in production of PE films using single-screw extruders. Gels can create quality issues via optical flaws, and they can cause the film to break on blown or cast film lines. There are numerous origins for gels, and the mitigation method depends on knowing the gel type.
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How to Set Up Mold Protect on Your Injection Machine
Set the start position for mold protect where anything in the mold could be subject to damage.
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Follow These Tips to Maximize Purging Efficiency
Commercial purging compounds offer dedicated solutions to your equipment cleaning needs, but some can be more effective in cleaning the ‘dead areas’ in certain screws and tooling. Follow these tips to choose the right one for your application, and make sure to follow the right protocol when shutting down for long periods.
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Six Tips to Prevent Those Annoying Streamers
Streamers are a vexing problem that can foul up production. If you have time and budget constraints, there “at-home” solutions you can try. But once you’ve exhausted those routes, you might have to throw a little money at the problem. Here’s a process engineer’s view of things.
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The Long and Short of It (Part 2)—Tips for Molding Short-Fiber Reinforced Polymers
Following on a similar guide for long-fiber reinforced compounds, here are practical tips on designing and injection molding parts utilizing short-fiber reinforcements.
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Revisiting the '5 M's' of Molding
All injection molding ultimately comes down to the “Man, Mold, Machine, Material and Method.” But those key aspects can be viewed differently if you’re auditing mold changes before startup or troubleshooting changes for an already validated process.
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Is Your Profile Die the Problem? Or Is It the Heaters?
When a profile is not being extruded to the tolerances of previous runs, the die is often suspect—but the real problem may be the heaters. Learn the five heater-band principles before you do any profile die work.
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Service Helps Manufacturers Buy Energy When the Time is Right
Insulating manufacturers from market volatility can pay off big, as one firm can attest.
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