WEBINAR: Understanding Failure Rate in Plastic Components

FREE for SPE Members
Non-Members: $199

Summary

When a plastic part fails, a tough question is often asked, “Why are a limited number of parts failing?”. This is particularly true with seemingly random failures at significant, but low, failure rates. Two aspects are generally linked to such low failure rates, multiple factor concurrency and the statistical nature of plastic failures. Failure often only takes place when two or more factors take effect concurrently. Absent one of these factors, failure will not occur. Plastic resins and the associated forming processes produce parts with a statistical distribution of performance properties, such as strength and ductility. Likewise, environmental conditions, including stress and temperature, to which the resin is exposed through its life cycle is also a statistical distribution. Failure occurs when a portion of the distribution of stress on the parts exceeds a portion of the distribution of strength of the parts. This webinar will illustrate how the combination of multiple factor concurrency and the inherent statistical nature of plastic materials can result in seemingly random failures.

Biography

Jeffrey A. Jansen is Senior Managing Engineer and a Partner at The Madison Group, an independent plastics engineering and consulting firm. Jeff specializes in failure analysis, material identification and selection, as well as compatibility, aging, and lifetime prediction studies for thermoplastic materials. He has been solving polymer-related problems for 26 years. In that time, he has performed over 3,820 investigations, both for industrial clients and as a part of litigation. Jeff is a regular presenter on the SPE webinar series, covering a wide range of topics related to plastics failure, material performance, testing, and polymer technology. Jeff is a graduate of Carroll College and the Milwaukee School of Engineering.