SPE Library

Are you content with your work relationships with your managers or do have a “case of the Mondays” with every new week? Reaching your personal goals and growing throughout your career are the signs of a true professional, yet we often misunderstand the role that others have during this process. Join Matt Grandbois of DuPont Electronics & Imaging in this interactive broadcast where you will learn how to work with your stakeholders in a manner that achieves mutual success and will ultimately lead to your long-lasting growth as professional scientists.

This webinar is intended as an introductory primer in patent law and practice for scientists, engineers and managers involved in business and technology. The webinar provides an overview of patent protection and trade secret protection. The webinar also covers the fundamentals of how to identify, and document an invention, search for patents related to the invention, and apply for a patent application. In particular, attendees will become familiar with the types of patent applications, patentability requirements, the parts of a patent application, and the prosecution process for getting a patent application allowed before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Attendees will also become familiar with foreign filing of patent applications, post grant patent options including mechanisms for challenging a U.S. patent before the USPTO, the various types of patent opinions and patent litigation. No prior knowledge of patent law is required.

The seminar is a review of available sandwich panel technologies, with the focus on configuration with thermoplastic honeycomb core being accepted in more and more applications today. The principles and benefits of sandwich panel design will be presented, along to post-processing techniques and examples of applications starting from a lower end of industrial packaging, through building and transportation, including but not limited to automotive.

This webinar is intended as an introductory primer in patent law and practice for scientists, engineers and managers involved in business and technology. The webinar provides an overview of patent protection and trade secret protection. The webinar also covers the fundamentals of how to identify, and document an invention, search for patents related to the invention, and apply for a patent application. In particular, attendees will become familiar with the types of patent applications, patentability requirements, the parts of a patent application, and the prosecution process for getting a patent application allowed before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Attendees will also become familiar with foreign filing of patent applications, post grant patent options including mechanisms for challenging a U.S. patent before the USPTO, the various types of patent opinions and patent litigation. No prior knowledge of patent law is required.

For a variety of reasons, including health, safety, environment and cost, the printing industry, especially in flexible food packaging, has been trending toward water-based printing systems. Unlike most paper-based substrates, flexible films tend to be hydrophobic and water-impermeable, which makes it a challenge to achieve adequate wetting and adhesion of water-based inks, not to mention the subsequent removal of the water and any co-solvents that are in the inks. In this webinar, we will briefly review the market trends in package printing, including common multilayer package structures, and provide an overview of the various digital printing technologies that are available today for printing on thin, flexible films. We will describe an all-aqueous system of primer, printing inks, and post-coatings that can be used for either surface or reverse printing of plastic labels, flexible packages, and vinyl wall coverings at production speeds of up to 300 meters per minute.

The appearance of a molded plastic part is often an important design element. Appearance involves color, and also texture and gloss, lighting and viewing conditions, and the perspective of the viewer. While each of these can be defined and controlled, the methods can be expensive, and the terminology is often confusing. This paper presents a method for specifying and evaluating appearance in a simple and easy to understand manner. The method and can be used at any phase of the development process, from initial concept to the factory floor. Properly implemented, it provides a practical and cost effective means to ensure consistent appearance in molded plastic parts.

Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) is a thermoanalytical technique that measures the stiffness (modulus) and damping (tan delta) of polymeric materials to assess the viscoelastic properties as a function of time, temperature, and frequency. Polymeric materials display both elastic and viscous behavior simultaneously, and DMA can separate these responses. Polymers, composed of long molecular chains, have unique viscoelastic properties, which combine the characteristics of elastic solids and Newtonian fluids. As part of the DMA evaluation, a small deformation is applied to a sample in a cyclic manner. This allows the material’s response to stress, temperature, and frequency to be studied. The analysis can be in several modes, including tension, shear, compression, torsion, and flexure. DMA is a very powerful tool for the analysis of plastics and can provide information regarding:

• Modulus
• Damping
• Glass Transition
• Softening Temperature
• Creep Behavior
• Stress Relaxation
• Degree of Cure

This webinar will provide an introductory look into DMA and how it can be applied to better understand plastic behavior, both long-term and short-term.

Join us and learn:

• How things have changed in the industry and why you need to leverage online material search
• Essential things you need to know about Material Database available on SPE
• Different ways to search for a plastic or a polymer additive
• Moving ahead with your project

Who should attend

• Compounders, converters, OEMs / Engineers, R&D staff involved in plastic development with a need to better leverage online search tool in order to gain in efficiency in their day-to-day
• Plastics & Polymer Additive suppliers who need to understand how their customer search their material online, and how they can adapt to this digitalization

Today, more and more companies are adopting cross-functional team structures that reward collaborators over "lone wolves." Members of these teams often have complex reporting relationships, rather than a single boss, which makes it essential for goals to be aligned across departments or teams. In matrix organizations, where team members represent various departments/functions, the lines of decision-making are often blurred; it’s not always clear who is in charge, or who has the ultimate decision-making authority. In many cases, team leaders lack the skills to boost cooperation and communication within their teams, and team members often lack the skills to collaborate effectively. Join Rick Lepsinger, Managing Partner of OnPoint Consulting for an exciting webinar during which you will:

• Learn how cross functional teaming has evolved over the past 10 years
• Understand the benefits and challenges of cross functional teamwork
• Learn the four prerequisites for effective cross-functional teamwork
• Learn how Hyundai Capital overcame the challenges of cross-functional teamwork and built a powerful global business

The debate about plastics recycling has entered the public arena, with implications for processors, material scientists, business owners, and policy makers. We have seen plastic bans and the introduction of alternative packaging materials, some of which have larger environmental footprints of the plastics they are replacing. Can paper be recycled indefinitely? Is foam impossible to recycle? In this webinar, Kelvin Okamoto, will identify 5 myths of materials recycling and present real-world examples and case studies to illuminate the complex truths of this increasingly important topic.