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Michael Sepe Independent Consultant
Materials—Cycle Time: Science vs. Rules of Thumb—Part 3
To properly calculate cycle time, you need to understand how the modulus of a polymer increases as it cools in the mold.
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Materials: Cycle Time: Science vs. Rules of Thumb—Part 2
Understanding cooling—how a given material develops modulus as it solidifies—requires access to data that provides some insight into the relationship between modulus and temperature. Dynamic mechanical analysis is a helpful tool.
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Cycle Time: Science vs. Rules of Thumb, Part 1
What temperature must the polymer reach so the part can be ejected from the mold? Here, more than for any other variable, ‘rules of thumb’ unfortunately prevail.
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The Need for Generalists: Part 4
Solving problems generally requires distinguishing good samples from bad ones. But that can become clumsy when one person runs the test while another analyzes the data.
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The Need for Generalists: Part 3
In failure analysis, there is a tendency to gravitate to a few common test protocols. But this approach can result in a mismatch of techniques to the problem.
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The Need for Generalists, Part 2
Problem-solving requires a team that combines people having academic credentials with others who have hands-on experience.
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The Need for Generalists: Part 1
Even companies with seemingly unlimited resources can have problems identifying root causes of problems. Maybe they have too many specialists and not enough generalists.
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Finding Root Causes of a Material Problem
Tools and methods for determining oxidative stability can be useful, but even more useful if constructed to yield the information you really need.
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The Importance of Oxidative Stability in Polyolefins, Part 3
Tools and methods for determining oxidative stability can be useful, but even more useful if constructed to yield the information you really need.
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The Importance of Oxidative Stability In Polyolefins, Part 2
The DSC test can do a reasonably good job of capturing the comparative behavior of materials that use similar antioxidant chemistries.
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Understanding the ‘Science’ of Color
And as with all sciences, there are fundamentals that must be considered to do color right. Here’s a helpful start.
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MATERIALS: The Importance of Oxidative Stability in Polyolefins
Because oxidation is a process that causes materials to deteriorate over time, its effects or potential for those effects are not always apparent when new products are tested.
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