Matthew Naitove Contributing Editor

nanocomposites 31 Mar 2004

Automotive Innovation Trend-Setting Technologies Garner SPE Awards

Paintless in-mold film decorating and carbon-fiber composites are making inroads in appearance and structural parts. Blow molding is finding new interior applications. And long-fiber thermoplastics are cutting weight and cost on the inside and outside of new passenger vehicles.

nanocomposites 30 Mar 2004

New TPE Compounder Debuts in U.S.

Formulating thermoplastic elastomers is a highly customized business.

nanocomposites 30 Mar 2004

High-Temperature TPE Is Based on Silicone

Automotive engineers are becoming converts to thermoplastic elastomers as alternatives to thermoset rubbers, but they’ve found that TPEs can’t go everywhere rubber can—particularly under the hood.

Stretch Blow Molding 25 Mar 2004

Injection Blow Molding COC Arrives: Here's How to Do It

Cyclic olefin copolymers, or COCs, are a new family of amorphous engineering thermoplastics with high clarity, moisture barrier, HDT, and chemical resistance.

Engineering Resins 24 Mar 2004

Now Molders Make Their Own GMT Sheet

The latest sign of an upsurge of interest in direct long-fiber compounding by molders of reinforced thermoplastics is a technology that allows molders to produce their own glass-mat thermoplastic (GMT) composite sheet.

Molds & Tooling 24 Mar 2004

From NPE 2000: What's Hot in Hot Runners

Closer cavity spacing, in-press serviceability, improved valve gates, smarter controls, quick-ship standard manifolds, and Internet e-commerce were leading themes in hot runners at the big show in Chicago.Hot-runner components were one of the largest categories of injection molding products exhibited at the triennial NPE show in June.

Injection Molding 23 Mar 2004

From NPE 2000: Where Robots Are Headed

If the big show in Chicago was any indicator, linear servo drives and jointed-arm designs may be the next trends in robots for injection molding.Injection molders visiting NPE 2000 last June may have glimpsed the future of injection molding automation.

All Electric & Hybrid Machines 23 Mar 2004

NPE 2000 News Wrap-Up: CAD & CAE

NPE 2000 offered a brand-new option for processors and mold designers: the ability to “rent” flow analysis on a pay-per-use basis over the Internet.

Gas & Water Assist 22 Mar 2004

NPE Newsfinder: Injection Molding

The abundance of injection molding news at this year’s show is staggering.

1 Mar 2004

Ebb and Flow

After the furious pace of mergers, acquisitions, and other corporate upheavals of the past decade, you’d think one more change would hardly raise an eyebrow.