Materials Know How
MATERIALS: Don’t Guess Your Way Through Root Cause Analysis
More than 50 different polymer test techniques can be used to find root causes of problems. Of these, five or six are fairly common. Use them to take the guesswork out of why a product failed.
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MATERIALS: Performance in Polyethylene: Density Matters: Part II
Remembering the case of the failed gas tanks.
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MATERIALS: Performance in Polyethylene: Density Matters
In polyethylene, density provides another mechanism to control properties. But it must be specified properly.
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MATERIALS: Melt Flow Rate Testing—Part 10
Two areas where the melt flow rate test it is not useful are related to processing.
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Melt Flow Rate Testing—Part 6
Once degradation has been established, the discussion inevitably turns to how it happened. It might be expected that the answer to this question is widely known. Not so. The good news is that the influences that cause polymer degradation during processing are few.
Read MoreMelt Flow Rate Testing—Part 5
There are two points in the manufacturing supply chain where a determination of average molecular weight (MW) is important. The first is when the material is first received by the molder. The second is after molding.
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Melt Flow Rate Testing—Part 4
Few molders perform the test in-house. Of those that do, most don't understand why they are doing it or what they are measuring.
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Melt Flow Rate Testing—Part 3
There is a well-established relationship between something called the weight-average molecular weight of a polymer and a parameter known as the zero-shear viscosity.
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