SPE Library

The SPE Library contains thousands of papers, presentations, journal briefs and recorded webinars from the best minds in the Plastics Industry. Spanning almost two decades, this collection of published research and development work in polymer science and plastics technology is a wealth of knowledge and information for anyone involved in plastics.

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Conference Proceedings

Extrusion Screws for Thermoplastic Composites

Timothy W. Womer, May 2015

Thermoplastics are often compounded with fillers including talc, mica, calcium carbonate, and nanoclays. These materials often shorten the service life of the processing equipment. This paper describes the screw wear and the processing performance differences that commonly occur with these materials. Remediation techniques are presented.

Visualizing 3D Polymer Foam Structure Characteristics with Optical Tomography

Christoph Muelder, Christian Hopmann, May 2015

Optical tomography (OT) is a method that allows volumetric measurements from translucent samples. It is used in medicine and the measurement principle is similar to X-ray computed tomography. Plastics samples are often translucent and are thereby viable for OT measurements. The volumetric foam structure of polymer foams can be visualized using OT.

Vegetable-based Copolymers Based on Blend of Acrylated Epoxidized Soybean Oil and Tung Oil

Samy Madbouly, Kunwei Liu, David Grewell, May 2015

A biorenewable thermosetting polymer was synthesized by copolymerizing acrylated epoxidized soybean oil and tung oil using a free radical polymerization method. It is found that tung oil acts as a plasticizer in acrylated epoxidized soybean oil. This article presents a simple, versatile, and environmentally friendly technique to produce thermosets with a wide range of thermo-mechanical properties.

Binary and Ternary PET Blends

Tariq Syed, Zahir Bashir, Sumanda Bandyopadhyay, Toseef Ahmad, Amit Mondal, Radha Kamalakaran, May 2015

This study is related to PET with minor amounts of polycarbonate and PE-LLD. Depending on the shearing in the melt, a minor amount of PC is fully miscible, or exists as nano domains in the PET matrix. On the other hand, PE-LLD is immiscible with PET even in a minor concentration, and it forms micron-sized domains. In a ternary blend of PET, PC (2%) and PE-LLD (3-5%), surprisingly the PC acts as a compatibiliser for the PE-LLD and reduces its domain size in the polymer matrix.

Benefits and Limitations of Ultrasonic Film Sealing

Bill Aurand, May 2015

Ultrasonic sealing of thermoplastic films is growing in acceptance throughout the plastics industry, primarily within packaging applications. Reducing the amount of film required for a given application is typically what drives consideration of ultrasonic sealing. However, superior seal quality, the ability to seal through contaminants, and improved process control are becoming increasingly important factors. This document describes the expected benefits of the ultrasonic sealing of films as well as limitations to be considered.

X-Ray Methods: Examples of Contributions to the History of Pigments

Austin H. Reid, May 2015

The use of X-ray and spectroscopic methods has been essential to the development and understanding of pigments in the 20th and 21st centuries. In this presentation I will provide some examples of the more pertinent of the developments made possible by the use of these powerful tools.

Novel Impact Modifier Alternative for Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymers

Semra Senturk-Ozer, Veerag Mehta, May 2015

Flexil? is a novel modified organosilicon based additive developed and marketed by Polymer Dynamix, LLC in South Plainfield, NJ. Flexil? provides the impact modification to glass fiber reinforced polymers. The results demonstrate that Flexil? increases the elongation and impact properties in glass reinforced polymers such as polybutylene terephthalate and polyamide.

Review on Micr-/Nano-Layer Enhanced Barrier Technology

Patrick Lee, May 2015

Recent developments having a potential to produce purely polymer based, transparent barrier packaging films are reviewed. The focus of this review paper is on micro-/nano-layer enhanced barrier improvment technology. This technology allows a significant barrier property improvment by controlling crystal lamellae alignment in various barrier polymers. The critical parameters affecting crystal lamalle orientation are briefly described as well.

Co-Extrusion of Continuous Fiber Composites with High Mechanical Properties

Jia Wang, Eric Baer, May 2015

Continuous fibrous composite tapes of PA6/PEO were produced using a novel co-extrusion and two-dimensional multiplication technique. The process is highly versatile in that the number and composition of PA6 fibers and the geometry of the tape can be easily adjusted for various applications. The PA6 fibrous tapes were post-oriented to achieve ultrahigh mechanical properties. In comparison with commercial fibrous composite tapes, the PA6/PEO tapes made using the co-extrusion technology have improved tensile modulus, tunable tensile strength and strain at break.

Changeable Thermal Management for LED-Lighting

Florian Mieth, Hans-Peter Heim, Viola Sauer, May 2015

Thermal management of LED lights can be arranged by deliberately influencing lighting components conduction capabilities and reducing the thermal contact resistance for various joining processes. The research details the possibilities thereof and shows the thermal contact resistance of plastic and aluminum joining for different connection processes.

Failure Analysis of a Glass Filled Phenolic Resin Power Steering Pump Pulley

Michael D. Hayes, Michael E. Stevenson, Dustin A. Turnquist, May 2015

A root cause failure analysis was performed on a glass filled phenolic resin power steering pump pulley that was implicated in an automobile accident. A thorough investigation including vehicle inspection, macroscopic and microscopic examination, stress analysis, and exemplar testing was performed to test two competing hypotheses postulated to explain the failure. This paper details these various steps and identifies the ultimate root cause.

Packaging and Food Interactions Modeling: Validation for Compliance with Specific Migration Regulations

Iv n L¢pez, Juan C. Estefan, Alejandro Betancur, May 2015

A validation model for compliance with specific migration regulations based on the EU standard 10/2011 about plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food will be presented. This article describes the implementation of the numerical model used for the migration calculation, which is validated by comparing it to other models available in the state of art. A case study is presented to show the benefits of this model.

Part Designers? Best Ally ? An Automated Design Checker

Vikram Bhargava, Rahul Rajadhyaksha, Isha Gupta, May 2015

For a plastic part or assembly to perform as expected, proper consideration has to be given to material selection, part design, tooling, and processing. A deficiency in any one of these requirements will nullify the other three attributes, even if they are highly optimized. This paper reviews all four requirements, giving special attention to the design aspect. The paper also introduces a quick and easy to use design checking tool that will be of tremendous advantage to designers, both new and experienced.

Polypropylene Impact Copolymers for Improved Tiger-Marking Resistance in Large Part Injection Molding

Joel M. Carr, Jeffrey Salek, Mark Chappell, Mois‚s Werlang, Jake Fallon, May 2015

This work will focus on Polypropylene Impact Copolymers (ICPs) aimed at reducing the surface aesthetic defect known as tiger-marking which is formed during large part injection molding of compounded thermoplastic olefins. Emphasis will be placed on rheological predictive testing and how this translates to the final part aesthetic performance.

Qualifying a Recycled Material with Stringent Engineering Properties Requirements Using Six Sigma

Vikram Bhargava, May 2015

Recycling commodity plastics with non-stringent mechanical requirements present few technical changes other than justifying the cost of recycling. When considering recycled engineering plastics for high end products with very tough mechanical, cosmetic (including custom color), processing, cost and reliable availability requirements with minimal lot to lot variation, it becomes a much bigger challenge. This paper deals with a successful case study in overcoming these challenges.

Determination of the Zero Shear Viscosity of Polyethylene

Joo Teh, Wen Lin, Padmini Popuri, May 2015

The zero shear viscosity (ZSV) of 10 commercial polyethylene resins has been determined with a creep test and the traditional oscillatory frequency sweep test. Identical results were obtained from the two different test methods. The obtained ZSV by either method can be used to evaluate the long chain branching content of polyethylene resins.

Composites for Shielding Electromagnetic Radiation

Veronika Vogel, Michael Gehde, May 2015

More and more electronic housings are made of polymers instead of metals. Ensuring failure-free operation of electronic equipment and preventing a negative influence on electronic components in the environment shielding actions have to be implemented. The objective of this paper is to present an approach, which allows producing large and highly stressable electronic enclosures such as battery boxes for electric vehicles and to examine systematically weak points in future junctions of components.

Surface Modification of Nano Silca for Organic/Inorganic Hybrid UV Curable Acrylate Hard Coating

Ho Jong Kang, Song-hye Hwang, Seungwoo Bak, Doowhan Kang, May 2015

The effect of acrylate surface modified nano silica on ultraviolet (UV) curing characteristics of acrylate hard coating material was studied. Our photo DSC results show that acrylate surface modification on nano silica improved the UV curing of acrylate. It was found that acrylate modified nano silica caused the enhancement of hardness of acrylate hard coating with maintaining of reasonably good optical properties for the hard coated optical film application.

Molding Strategies for Bridging Production Volumes

David Kazmer, Stephen P. Johnston, May 2015

Fixed and marginal costs are analyzed for plastic part production with class 101 injection molds, aluminum tooling, prototype molds made by additive manufacturing with photopolymers, and products directly manufactured by 3D printing via fused deposition modeling of thermoplastics. The analysis indicates that the production costs can vary by orders of magnitude, and that different processes are preferred with varying production quantities.

Combined X-Ray and Optical Pellet Inspection for Smallest Impurity Detection during Plastic Pellet Production and Processing

Christian Frank, May 2015

Impurities in plastic pellets have to be detected and sorted out effectively, even when they are melted down into the pellet. This is achieved by a purity inspection system, which includes a combination of X-ray technology and an optical system. The X-ray technology looks inside the pellets, independent of non- transparency and color. With this new technical approach, even 50æm contamination can be detected and therefore a 100% inspection for smallest contamination is possible.