December 2024 Issue
December 2024
Digital Edition
2025 Handbook & Buyer's Guide
Digital Edition
Features
Featured articles from the December 2024 issue of Plastics Technology
Equipment Suppliers Show Adaptability and Smarts at TaipeiPlas 2024
Customizable equipment solutions, warm hand-off support, and seamless software integrations highlight Taiwan’s plastics show.
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3D Printed Spine Implants Made From PEEK Now in Production
Medical device manufacturer Curiteva is producing two families of spinal implants using a proprietary process for 3D printing porous polyether ether ketone (PEEK).
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Sheet Extrusion, Thermoforming Tips for PLA/aPHA Blends
Biopolymers like PLA and PHA are able to meet sustainability goals while also delivering the performance attributes needed in rigid food packaging. Here’s what testing has shown.
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Using a Melt Flow Indexer to Test Your Pressure Transducer
The MFI tester enables collection of meaningful pressure data in transducers in a relatively short time, providing realistic measures of the response time of a pressure transducer. This information is critical in the interpretation of pressure data measured in an extrusion process.
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An Uphill Journey
Proper end-of-life outcomes for plastics are possible, if we’re willing to put in the work.
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Packaging Converter Adopts PE-Based Vacuum Skin Packaging (VSP) for Food Applications
Videplast and ExxonMobil collaborated on the development of this cost-effective VSP film solution that contains no ionomers.
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Open Automation Enables Flexibility in Chemical Recycling
Software-defined equipment control systems can be duplicated, transferred and scaled with ease.
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AMRs and Cobots Target Inspection, Palletizing and Movement of Finished Goods
The same year it marked its 70th year in business, custom injection molder Hoffer Plastics (South Elgin, Illinois) — which routinely reinvests more than 10% of its annual revenue back into new equipment — prioritized automation in that CapEx with some stunning results.
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Bulk, Solid and Melt Density: How to Calculate These Values and Why They Matter — Part 1 of 2
How much resin is contained within a bucket, gaylord or hopper? That depends on the bulk density — a figure you need to learn how to calculate due to its impact on everything from storage and conveying to drying and molding.
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What You Need to Know About Melt-Temperature Measurement in Single-Screw Extruders
Measuring the discharge temperature is not so simple, especially when using thermocouples positioned in the transfer line just upstream of the die.
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Prices Drop for All Five Commodity Resins
While PE price reductions were not as apparent, they too were following the year-end price trajectory of PP, PS, PVC and PET.
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Injection Molded Enclosures Plug into Potential Electric Vehicle Battery Applications
In partnership with material suppliers, Engel is proving out injection molded thermoplastic-based concepts for electric vehicle battery housings, utilizing production tools and dedicated machines at its large press factory in St. Valentin, Austria.
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Best Practices for Engraving Cores and Cavities
Consider depth, font style, artwork size, polarity and location when engraving.
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Arburg Open House Emphasizes Turnkey Capabilities
Held at the company’s U.S. headquarters in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, the event featured seven exhibits, including systems that were designed, sourced and built in the U.S.
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Plastics Processing Index Remains Virtually Unchanged
Future business indicators rose again this month, but other inputs changed only slightly.
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