November is a time for giving thanks, and this month PT’s readers were grateful to read about a new catalyst technology, ...

Carbon black pigments have been standard for black parts. However, these pigments block the signal of NIR optical sorting ...

Bio-Fed, a branch of Akro-Plastic, launched a specialized compound for coffee capsules, M-Vera GP1065. The biocompound is designed to protect aroma and extend shelf life through enhanced barrier ...

The AIM Institute has created a new plastics technology certificate program targeting industry interest in tested credentials.

Viscosity for non-Newtonian polymers is a combination of increasing temperature and shear rate, as described by the following relationship: where viscosity (η) equals consistency index (m) times the ...

Polyethylene has been around as a commercial material for a little over 70 years. It was one of the early developments in synthetic thermoplastics. Given its long history, it could be assumed that we ...

Pearlescence, haze, rocker bottoms, and top-load failure are common ills that can afflict PET bottles. Cures for all of these are readily available. An article in the December 2014 issue (Blow Molding ...

Biodegradable polymers like PHA are expected to replace most single-use petroleum polymers over the next five years. However, these polymers often require special additives and fillers to meet product ...

Wood-plastic composite (WPC) products were first widely marketed in the early 1990s as weather-resistant decking. The product concept has evolved rapidly into railing, fencing, trim, automotive parts, ...

The intensification ratio is equal to the ratio of the effective areas of the hydraulic ram to that of the screw check valve. Since those values often are not readily available, the intensification ...

Everyone involved in plastics processing knows that molded parts shrink as they cool. The degree to which this occurs is largely dependent upon the composition of the material being processed.

In a previous article, we briefly discussed the influence of time as the second important factor in the mechanical response of polymers. The flip side of time is strain rate. The rate of loading for a ...