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Designing With Plastics: A Practical Guide for Engineers
By Design News Staff -- Design News, March 20, 2006
No matter what you're working on, you need a material that performs. After all, the material you specify this year will determine the succes of your product next year and beyond. That's where Solvay Advanced Polymers can help. Whether you're looking to reduce weight or lower cost, improve durability or consolidate parts, you'll find Solvay to be an amazing resource of polymers and people with expertise.
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Contents
DN Spotlight Articles | Thermoplastics Overview | On Demand Webcasts | Material Selection Tools | Solvay Resources
Aesthetic, functional and regulatory considerations
for colorants spotlightSimply put, color adds value. Learn how to look beyond the data sheet when selecting a colorant plastic additive for your designs at the Design Engineer’s Portal for High Performance Plastics. Full Story
A Quick Look at Additives
The focal point of design engineers when selecting advanced plastics is the type of plastic: polysulfone, nylon, polyester, or whatever. The fact is, though, that commercial grades of engineering plastics often contain five or more additives that can represent a significant percentage of the final compound. Full Story
Do It Right the First Time
The three major issues to consider when making a prototyping decision are good, fast and cheap. A very strong, if not emphatic, tilt toward "good" is strongly recommended for any molding job that involves complex tooling, demanding requirements, maximum tool efficiency or repeatable tolerances. Full Story
Pick Two: Good, Fast or Cheap
The pressure on design engineers to make the right decisions on prototyping are more important today than ever because of speed-to-market requirements, increasing cost restraints, and the escalating outsourcing of mold design, mold production and manufacturing to remote locations around the world. Full Story
Avoid Molding Pitfalls
Up-front attention to draft angle, wall thickness and gate location can improve tool and machine performance as well as create stronger parts. Full Story
How to Manage Stress
Look beyond data sheets to isochronous stress-strain curves and visco-plastic models in CAE programs. Use special designs to battle heat and stress. Full Story
Why You Must Consider Continuous Heat and Atmosphere
The UL Relative Thermal Index tests plastics' mettle while screening can predict performance in chemical environments. Full Story
High-Temperature Plastics - Can They Really Take the Heat?
Information on data sheets is great for predicting how test bars will react at room temperature to specific conditions. But in the real world? Full Story
Practical Guide for Designing with Plastics
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Literature/Technical Data:
Data Sheets Design Guides Typical Properties Guide General Product Brochure
What's your biggest materials challenge? designwithplastics@reedbusiness.com?Subject=I have a materials challengeClick here to give us your feedback.
overviewThermoplastics fall into two main categories – amorphous and semi-crystalline. Our sulfone polymers fit into the amorphous category. These materials are inherently transparent and predominantly unreinforced. Semi-crystalline polymers are opaque and typically compounded with additives such as glass, minerals and impact modifiers. We also offer ultra-performance polymers that offer exceptional performance in specific areas.
Engineered for use in especially harsh environments, Solvay's resins can be injection molded, vacuum formed, or machined into products designed for a variety of demanding applications.
Plastic Prototyping Strategies That WorkwebcastsThis webcast will help you develop a prototyping strategy that truly matches your application and timing requirements. Topics include a look at the methods and materials needed for appearance and functional prototypes. The webcast will also highlight often-overlooked part and tooling design decisions that will create a smooth transition from prototype to production part. Watch Now
Pushing the Performance Envelope
What are the toughest materials you can use? Find out in this special breakout session, sponsored by Solvay Advanced Polymers, as engineers from the steel, ceramics, and plastics industries describe the strongest materials in their technology. They'll identify materials that can withstand the most extreme environments, including performance specs and examples of the materials in use. Watch Now
Property Search ToolproductsIf you have defined the mechanical and thermal property requirements of the application, then this tool allows you specify the acceptable property value range for several properties and then compare all the properties of candidate materials. Learn More
Material Type Search Tool
If you are already familiar with polymeric materials and want to find a particular material and/or grade to meet your requirements for material characteristics, then the material type search tool may be more useful. This tool allows you to search and compare our product database for recommended products for various applications. Learn More
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