Know-How
Choosing the Right Gearbox and Motor for Your Single-Screw Extruder
Extruder OEMs are typically very good at sizing motors and gear boxes for extrusion applications. But you have the final decision on the acceptance of the design. Here’s what you should consider.
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The Role Barrel Temperatures Play in Melting
You need to understand the basics of how plastic melts in an extruder to properly set your process and troubleshoot any issues. Hint: it’s not about the barrel temperature settings.
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Let's Take a Journey into the World of Molding Thermosets – Part 1
There are many fundamental differences between thermosets and thermoplastics, from the way raw materials are furnished to the molder and the process in which parts are molded.
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The Fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and Their Application to Injection Molding
As AI and ML continue to develop, they can eventually play a role in helping molders predict more accurately and, perhaps someday, model very close to the actual process results.
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How to Configure Your Twin-Screw Extruder for Mixing: Part 5
Understand the differences between distributive and dispersive mixing, and how you can promote one or the other in your screw design.
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Fundamentals of Polyethylene – Part 6: PE Performance
Don’t assume you know everything there is to know about PE because it’s been around so long. Here is yet another example of how the performance of PE is influenced by molecular weight and density.
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Screw Design Tips to Boost Productivity
In this collection of articles, two of the industry’s foremost authorities on screw design — Jim Frankland and Mark Spalding — offer their sage advice on screw design...what works, what doesn’t, and what to look for when things start going wrong.
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Fundamentals of Polyethylene – Part 5: Metallocenes
How the development of new catalysts—notably metallocenes—paved the way for the development of material grades never before possible.
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Polyethylene Fundamentals – Part 4: Failed HDPE Case Study
Injection molders of small fuel tanks learned the hard way that a very small difference in density — 0.6% — could make a large difference in PE stress-crack resistance.
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How To Design Three-Plate Molds – Part 4
There are many things to consider, and paying attention to the details can help avoid machine downtime and higher maintenance costs — and keep the customer happy.
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