Materials

Sounds Weird, But...Plastic Roads May Actually 'Surface'

      Our infrastructure problem is not going away any time soon.

ASTM Launches New Plastic Film QA Testing Tool

  An innovative statistical qualitative assurance tool for plastic film testing has been just launched by ASTM International, W.

MATERIALS: The Problems With Single-Point Data

Polymer properties are not constant as a function of temperature, and even small temperature changes can affect properties.

Expect Graphene to Make its Mark in Multiple Markets

  There has been a lot of buzz about graphene in recent times and for good reason.  A material stronger and stiffer than carbon fiber, graphene is thought to have enormous commercial potential, but has been impractical to use on a large scale, with researchers limited to using small flakes of the material.

Will Rise of Benzene Prices Impact Those of Nylons, ABS & PC as They Have PS?

Rising benzene prices have already impacted prices of PS and nylon 6 appears to be next.

COC Used in Unique Crystallization Microplate

Topas's cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) selected for the In-Situ-1, an unusual crystallization microplate by MiTeGen LLC, Ithaca, N.Y.

Motorola Thermoplastic Composite Smartphone Covers Get Award

What Customers Actually 'Need' When They 'Want' Certain Material Properties

Despite the fact that material specification in a part drawing will literally make or break a component, this key attribute is often treated like an afterthought, if addressed at all.

DuPont's Spin-Off Chemours Launched

As planned a year ago, DuPont has spun off its Performance Chemicals segment into the newly launched Chemours.

MATERIALS: The Problems with Single-Point Data

Engineers who are used to working with metals are surprised that plastics cannot operate as close to their yield points as can metals. The yield point is not enough to tell you how the material reacts to stress.