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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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Failure Analysis and Prevention

Plastic Datasheets: What They Do and Don't Tell Us 2024
Jeff Jansen, February 2024

UL Prospector lists tens of thousands of different plastic resins. When tasked with material selection, 99% of us turn to the typical property data sheet. Data suggests that neatly half of all plastic part failures are related to improper material selection.

Datasheets present information representing material properties, predominantly as single point data.

  • What are the issues with the single point numbers listed on these datasheets?
  • Why does sole reliance on this information often lead to failed product?
  • What should we be doing instead?
Selecting the proper material for an application requires the right data. While plastic projects have evolved over the past 50 years, the data we are given has not evolved. This webinar will present the deficiencies of the information presented on plastic data sheets, and suggest what is really needed for successful material selection and product design.

Real-Time Process Optimization With In-Mold Sensors and Machine Learning
Dr. Alexander Chaloupka, May 2023

Plastic manufacturing can be unpredictable. Deviations in material batches, moisture content, machine calibration, among other variables, lead to issues in manufacturing quality and final part properties. This webinar will introduce how dielectric analysis (DEA) sensors be used to directly measure material behavior in-mold. New technology has been developed to combine dielectric analysis with machine learning and material models, allowing for dynamic adjustments to machine settings, removing uncertainty from your process, and optimizing cycle times. The material covered will include:

  • Fundamentals of dielectric analysis and applications for plastic processing
  • How dielectric analysis and machine learning can be combined for dynamic process optimization
  • Case studies demonstrating how dielectric analysis is being used in industries ranging from automotive composites to electronic encapsulation

Polymer Characterization – Indentation and Scratch
Mark Haase, November 2022

Polymers, in their various forms, are a vital part of our material infrastructure and continue to grow in importance and utilization. Due to their unique and diverse mechanical properties, they offer solutions to technical challenges in many applications. Whether their role is as a bulk material, composite, or coating, quantifying the resulting properties and responses to stress is vital to development and production. As these applications grown in complexity and shrink in size, quantification by traditional means becomes increasingly difficult. It is also increasingly vital, as tolerances tighten and conditions become more extreme. This presentation will review the mechanical properties that are quantifiable by modern instrumented indentation and scratch testing systems. It also includes practical examples exploring those properties and their relevance to a range of applications.

Introduction to Plastics
Jeff Jansen, January 2024

Plastics are the most versatile materials ever invented, and have become a universal material, used for everything from water bottles to wings on combat aircraft to implanted artificial joints. Thermoplastic materials display properties that are unique when compared to other materials and have contributed greatly to the quality of our everyday life. At this moment, you are almost certain to be touching plastic. Yet, while plastics play such an important role, we do not always understand the fundamental concepts of their production, compounding, end properties, and use. If words such as polymer, thermoplastic, creep, amorphous, and modulus are outside your normal vocabulary, this presentation is for you. At the conclusion of this presentation, you will understand:

  • How polymers build molecular weight through polymerization and its importance in the performance of thermoplastics.
  • The role that polymer structure plays in shaping the key characteristics of plastics.
  • How crystallinity the plays an important role in determining the properties of plastics.
  • The essentials of viscoelasticity.
The usefulness of thermoplastics is attributed to the fact that they provide a wide range of properties and can be changed into products by relatively simple and inexpensive fabrication means. In order to take full advantage of these materials, it is important to have a clear understanding of their composition and elementary properties.

Plastics Weathering - From Basic Principles to Recent Developments in Technology and Standardization
Dr. Florian Feil, October 2023

Products based on plastics can degrade by the effects of the environment. This webinar addresses the basic principles of polymer degradation caused by the effects of weather. The main environmental stress factors are solar radiation, heat, and moisture. Testing of the environmental durability can be done under natural conditions; however accelerated laboratory testing offer the potential of acceleration. Today xenon-arc instruments (full solar simulation) and fluorescent UV instruments are the main technologies used to test the weathering stability of plastics. Modern test instruments offer control of the simulated environmental parameters, but also measurement of specimen properties, such as the surface temperature. International weathering standards are the base for reproducible testing. Recent standardization efforts focus on better parameter control and on more realistic simulation of environmental degradation effects. Plastics can degrade when exposed to environmental stress – some faster than others. This webinar addresses the basic principles of polymer degradation under the synergetic impact of solar radiation, heat, and water. The online seminar will show how weathering testing of plastics can be performed under natural conditions, but also in the most common laboratory weathering instruments:

  • Filtered xenon-arc (full spectrum solar simulation, including UV)
  • Fluorescent UV (UV only)
Finally, recent developments in testing technology and international standardization will be presented.

3 Challenges of Testing Plastics
Sammi Sadler & Stephanie Williams, September 2023

The world of plastics is constantly evolving, with new applications such as high-performance polymers, additive manufacturing, and bioplastics continually emerging to transform the field. Common to all applications - old and new - is the importance of mechanical testing that ensures manufacturers are producing quality products. In this webinar we'll be discussing the specific challenges of testing plastics, the importance of repeatable and reliable mechanical testing results, and what you can do to improve your results. Topics

  • Overview of recent changes in key standards
  • Factors that influence test results – solutions and troubleshooting tips
  • How to increase laboratory efficiency and throughput to improve test times

Conducting a Plastic Failure Analysis
Jeffrey A. Jansen, March 2023

Agenda

  • Defining Failure
  • Plastic Part Performance Factors
  • Understanding Failure Rate in Plastic Components
  • Plastic Failure Mechanisms
  • Failure Analysis Methodology
  • Failure Analysis Testing
  • Case Illustrations

Viscoelasticity
Jeff Jansen, November 2022

Plastics are viscoelastic materials, meaning that they exhibit both viscous and elastic characteristics when undergoing deformation. This is due to their unique molecular structure. The polymer molecules consist of long chains with high molecular weight. Those individual polymer chains are and tangled into each other, but are mobile and can slide past each other because they do not share chemical bonds with the other chains. Because of their viscoelastic nature, the mechanical properties of plastics vary depending on the conditions under which stress is applied. Most commonly, the mechanical properties of plastics will vary with temperature, time under load, and strain rate. Their viscoelastic nature is important to those designing, manufacturing, or using plastic components. and is a fundamental concept of plastic behavior that needs to be understood. It is important to recognize the viscoelastic nature of plastic materials so that their behavior in the intended application can be understood. This webinar will expose the attendees to the following concepts:

  • The viscoelastic nature of plastics is attributed to their molecular structure.
  • Thermoplastic materials have both long-term and short-term properties – they flow due to the application of stress over time.
  • Most mechanical testing of plastic materials is actually testing the material’s viscoelasticity – how the plastic flows when different stresses are applied.
  • Plastics are time, temperature, and strain rate sensitive.

An Introduction to Dynamic Mechanical Analysis
Jeff Jansen, October 2022

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: 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.

  1. Modulus
  2. Damping
  3. Glass Transition
  4. Softening Temperature
  5. Creep Behavior
  6. Stress Relaxation
  7. Degree of Cure

UV Effects on Plastic Materials: Degradation, Testing and Protection
Jeff Jansen, May 2022

If you work with plastic components that include outdoor exposure, then "Ultraviolet (UV) Effects on Plastic Material" will provide you with information that will enhance your understanding of the interaction between UV radiation-based weathering and plastic resins, and help prevent premature failure. Topics covered during this session include an introduction to UV degradation and an explanation of the failure mechanism characteristic of UV radiation/plastic interaction. Case studies associated with UV radiation exposure will be presented. You will learn…

  • The mechanism of UV degradation
  • The materials susceptible to and most affected by UV degradation
  • The effects of UV degradation on plastic materials
  • How the use of stabilizers can improve UV resistance of plastic materials
  • How testing can be used to determine whether plastic materials are susceptible to UV degradation

Polymer Molecular Weight: A Key Factor in Plastic Performance
Jeff Jansen, March 2022

The characteristic properties exhibited by plastics are the direct result of their unique molecular structure. Plastics are polymers of very high molecular mass. To enhance their properties, they often contain additives, however, the underlying attributes of a plastic material are determined by the polymer. The molecular weight of the base polymer is a fundamental factor in the characteristics of plastic materials. This includes the mechanical, thermal, chemical, and environmental properties of the material, and ultimately the formed part. Through the polymerization process, polymers - materials of relatively high molecular weight, macromolecules - are produced. Higher molecular weights are associated with longer molecular chains, and this results in a greater level of entanglement. This has important implications, as higher-molecular-weight grades of plastics will have superior mechanical, thermal and chemical resistance properties compared with lower molecular-weight grades of the same material. Through this webinar, the viewers will:

  • Gain an appreciation of the criticality of Molecular Weight on the performance of polymeric materials
  • Get insight as to how Molecular Weight can be altered during life cycle of the polymer
  • Identify different analytical tools to measure Molecular Weight, and recognize which is best in different circumstances
Outline
  • Polymerization
  • Molecular Weight and Its Relationship with Plastic Properties
  • Molecular Weight Distribution
  • Molecular Degradation
  • Molecular Weight Measurement
  • Complementary Methods for Assessing Molecular Degradation

Rubber O-rings
Jeff Jansen, March 2022

O-rings function as a means of sealing, essentially closing off a passageway to prevent the escape or loss of a fluid, either a liquid or a gas. An O-ring has a toric shape, and is typically manufactured from an elastomeric material. The seal is established by placing the O-ring into a cavity, known as a gland. The gland acts to compress the O-ring, and produces a zero-clearance condition, which effectively blocks the flow of the fluid. The sealing effect is produced through axial or radial compression of the O-ring. In general, O-ring seals are considered to be particularly reliable due to the simplicity of the O-ring/gland design and overall material resilience. However, under a number of circumstances failure can occur. O-ring failure can range from minor leakage to catastrophic equipment breakdown. Regardless of the magnitude, an O-ring failure can be diagnosed through proper visual and analytical techniques. This webinar will review:

  • O-ring Function
  • Failure Modes
  • Sealing System Design Factors
  • O-ring Materials – Selection and Specification

Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy in Failure and Compositional Analysis
Jeff Jansen, January 2022

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) is a fundamental analytical technique for the analysis of organic materials. It provides critical information in the evaluation of polymeric materials, including material identification, contamination, and degradation. The webinar will present a fundamental understanding of the technique and the following topics will be covered:

  • Theory of Infrared Spectroscopy
  • Test Result Interpretation
  • Application to Polymeric Materials
    • Material Identification
    • Contamination
    • Degradation
  • Sample Preparation Supplementing FTIR With Other Techniques
  • Cases Studies

Thermal Dependency of Plastics
Jeff Jansen, December 2021

Because of their molecular structure, polymeric materials have different properties compared to other materials, like metals. Due to their viscoelastic nature, polymeric material properties our temperature dependent. As the temperature is increased, the polymer chains are further apart, there is more free volume and kinetic energy, and the molecules can slide past one another and disentangle more easily. The physical properties and performance of polymeric materials, such as strength, stiffness, and impact resistance, are highly dependent on the temperature at which the stresses applied. Over a temperature range, polymers will pass through key transitions, such as beta transitions and glass transitions, as well as softening and melting. Understanding the implications of these transitions and their correlation to molecular structure is useful in material selection and avoiding premature failure. The goal is that this webinar will provide:

  • A better understanding of how plastic mechanical properties change as a function of temperature.
  • The ability to recognize that there are both lower-end and upper-end temperature limits for polymeric materials.
  • Familiarity with the testing that can be utilized for evaluating the effects of temperature on plastics, as well as tests that are commonly used but provide very little useful information.
Outline
  • Viscoelasticity
  • Temperature
  • Thermal Transitions
  • Thermal Performance
  • Elevated Temperature
  • Low Temperature
  • Understanding Continuous Service Temperature Limits

Plastic Datasheets: What They Do and Don't Tell Us
Jeff Jansen, November 2021

UL Prospector lists tens of thousands of different plastic resins. When tasked with material selection, 99% of us turn to the typical property data sheet. What are the issues with the single point numbers listed on these datasheets? Why does sole reliance on this information often lead to failed product? What should we be doing instead? Selecting the proper material for an application requires the right data. While plastic project have evolved over the past 50 years, the data we are given has not evolved. This webinar will present the deficiencies of the information presented on plastic data sheets, and suggest what is really needed.

Failure of Plastics Session 2
Jeff Jansen, October 2021

This 2-part webinar series will cover a considerable range of topics important in understanding, diagnosing, and preventing plastic component failure. The most efficient and effective approach to plastic component failure is by performing a systematic failure analysis. Someone once said, “if you don’t know how something broke, you can’t fix it”, and this certainly highlights the importance of a thorough understanding of how and why a product has failed. This webinar series will introduce the attendees to information they need to gain this understanding.

  • The material covered will include: Essential knowledge of why plastic components fail, 

  • The five factors affecting plastic part performance, 

  • The process of conducting a failure investigation and methods for understanding how and why a product has failed, 

  • The importance of ductile-to-brittle transitions and their role in plastic component failure, 

  • The major plastic failure mechanisms, 

  • Failure analysis case studies
The webinar series will focus on practical problem-solving techniques and will utilize case studies to illustrate key aspects of plastic failure and prevention. Participants will gain a better understanding why plastic components fail, and how to avoid future failures by applying the knowledge learned.

Failure of Plastics Session 1
Jeff Jansen, October 2021

This 2-part webinar series will cover a considerable range of topics important in understanding, diagnosing, and preventing plastic component failure. The most efficient and effective approach to plastic component failure is by performing a systematic failure analysis. Someone once said, “if you don’t know how something broke, you can’t fix it”, and this certainly highlights the importance of a thorough understanding of how and why a product has failed. This webinar series will introduce the attendees to information they need to gain this understanding.

  • The material covered will include: Essential knowledge of why plastic components fail, 

  • The five factors affecting plastic part performance, 

  • The process of conducting a failure investigation and methods for understanding how and why a product has failed, 

  • The importance of ductile-to-brittle transitions and their role in plastic component failure, 

  • The major plastic failure mechanisms, 

  • Failure analysis case studies
The webinar series will focus on practical problem-solving techniques and will utilize case studies to illustrate key aspects of plastic failure and prevention. Participants will gain a better understanding why plastic components fail, and how to avoid future failures by applying the knowledge learned.

Polypropylene: Commodity Resin, I Don't Think So
Jeffrey A. Jansen, June 2021

Polypropylene is often referred to as a “commodity resin”, however, is this really the case? Polypropylene is a versatile thermoplastic that can be processed through a variety of processing techniques. It is utilized in a wide range of applications, including packaging, automotive, infrastructure, appliances, healthcare, and electrical. Its wide use is based upon several key strengths, including:

  • Good chemical resistance
  • Good electrical insulation properties
  • Flexural strength and modulus
  • Relatively low coefficient of friction
  • Readily available and relatively inexpensive
The implication of the interchangeability of polypropylene resins does a disservice to the complexity of this material and the plastic industry in general. The properties of polypropylene are highly dependent on molecular weight and molecular weight distribution, crystallinity, type and proportion of comonomer and the tacticity. Hopefully, at the conclusion of the webinar, attendees will
  • Gain an understanding of the general properties of polypropylene.
  • Have more insight into how the molecular structure of polypropylene determines its performance properties.
  • Appreciate the diversity of polypropylene.

Integration of Polycarbonate Thermoplastic in LED Lighting
Nicolas J. Sunderland | Jim Lorenzo, May 2021

Thermally conductive (TC) polycarbonate was utilized as aluminum metal replacement in LED lighting luminaires, along with transparent, diffusion, and reflective polycarbonate thermoplastics in order to describe a light weight, design-friendly, cost efficient part. To assess suitability of the TC polycarbonate, the part was subjected to thermal testing. Results showed very similar thermal characteristics as aluminum.

Designing for Six Sigma (DFSS) - A Systematic Approach to Robust Plastic Part Design
Vikram Bhargava, May 2021

Designing for Six Sigma (DFSS) - A Systematic Approach to Robust Plastic Part Design To design and manufacture today's complex plastic components, product designers are under tremendous pressure to produce robust designs at a minimum cost and in the fastest possible time. Leading author David Wright wrote in his book titled “Failure of Plastics and Rubber Products” that design issues account for almost 20% of product failures. The fact is that many errors that manifest themselves as material, tooling or processing can also be attributed to design issues. Conventional plastic flow simulation does not necessarily help diagnose and avoid common design issues. Decisions made at the design stage impacts manufacturing quality, product cost, and delivery lead times. Taking a proactive approach by including Six Sigma philosophy upfront into the early design stage can help develop high quality, profitable products eventually bringing sustained value to customers and markets. The Paper will discuss the Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) philosophy and best practices and tools for its incorporation into new plastic product development. This will include: • Understanding the DFSS concept and popular methodologies such as DMAIC and DMADV • Learning how to use DFSS Methodology in early part of plastic product design lifecycle • Applying DFSS techniques and available simulation and DFM tools for successful implementation










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