best practices
Plastics Technology Year in Review: Your Favorite Reads of 2024
A year-end review of the top stories showcasing industry trends, advancements and expert insights. Revisit the articles that captured the attention of the plastics community.
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Optimizing Pack & Hold Times for Hot-Runner & Valve-Gated Molds
Using scientific procedures will help you put an end to all that time-consuming trial and error. Part 1 of 2.
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How to Configure Your Twin-Screw Barrel Layout
In twin-screw compounding, most engineers recognize the benefits of being able to configure screw elements. Here’s what you need to know about sequencing barrel sections.
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Important Factors and Approaches to Estimating Residence Time in Injection Molding
Residence time can have a dramatic impact on part quality and production efficiency but determining its value can be tricky. Use these methods and formulas to accurately measure residence time and enable it to inform everything from scheduling jobs to optimizing a process.
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Part 2 Medical Tubing: Use Simulation to Troubleshoot, Optimize Processing & Dies
Simulation can determine whether a die has regions of low shear rate and shear stress on the metal surface where the polymer would ultimately degrade, and can help processors design dies better suited for their projects.
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Fighting Dust and Noise in Regrind Operations
Mayhew Basque Plastics implemented lower speed granulators to deal with challenging materials.
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Medical Tubing: Use Simulation to Troubleshoot, Optimize Processing & Dies
Extrusion simulations can be useful in anticipating issues and running “what-if” scenarios to size extruders and design dies for extrusion projects. It should be used at early stages of any project to avoid trial and error and remaking tooling.
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Get the Most From Fiber-Reinforced Thermoplastic Composites Parts
There are five specific areas that designers and manufacturers need to consider to realize the potential of these unique materials.
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Annual Benchmarking Survey of Injection Molders Released
Plastics Technology Top Shops Benchmarking Survey provided both unanimous responses and divided results, but pervasive throughout is the sense of an industry still grappling with the aftermath of 2020’s global pandemic.
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Three Key Decisions for an Optimal Ejection System
When determining the best ejection option for a tool, molders must consider the ejector’s surface area, location and style.
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