March 2004 Issue

March 2004

Ebb and Flow

After the furious pace of mergers, acquisitions, and other corporate upheavals of the past decade, you’d think one more change would hardly raise an eyebrow.

Features

Featured articles from the March 2004 issue of Plastics Technology

Resin Conveying 1 Mar 2004

Small Molder Builds a High-Tech Showplace

How does a small injection molding company position itself to compete with much larger, technically sophisticated rivals?

Multiscrew 1 Mar 2004

'Chaotic Advection' Creates New Polymer Blend Morphologies

A continuous blending device called the SmartBlender is creating polymer blends with novel properties by folding the two melts together, rather than distributing one evenly throughout the other.

Sheet Extrusion 1 Mar 2004

Roll finishes often cost more than the roll itself. The right finish improves film or sheet quality and raises output. Yet most processors don't know how to measure surface roughness or to specify it properly.

Recycling 1 Mar 2004

Get Smart About Screens

Almost all extrusion processes pass melt through wire-mesh screens on the way to the die to provide filtering and improved mixing.

Pipe, Profile & Tubing Extrusion 1 Mar 2004

Family Lumber Business Turns To Plastics

Five years ago, Quality Wood Treating in Prairie Du Chien, Wis., was a 30-year-old family lumber business and one of the largest wood pressure-treaters in the country.

Injection Molding 1 Mar 2004

Metal Replacement Accelerates In Under-Hood Parts

Plastics are making new inroads in valve covers and air-intake manifolds on U.S.-built vehicles.

Multiscrew 1 Mar 2004

Weather Testing: Why You Need It More Than Ever

If you think your product doesn't warrant weather testing, you could be in for a rude surprise. Any time you change a material formulation or use it in a new application you run the risk of uv-induced failure.

economics 1 Mar 2004

Economic Update: A Strong, But Not Spectacular, Year for Plastics

After the slight decline in U.S. output of plastics products in 2003, our latest forecast calls for a gain of 6% in plastics processing activity this year.

All Electric & Hybrid Machines 1 Mar 2004

The New Dimension in Mold Simulation

Keep an eye on the increasing prominence of so-called “3D” mold analysis. Two vendors of simulation software from Europe and Asia think it’s the best solution for a big proportion of injection molded parts. Established U.S. suppliers aren’t so sure. In any case, the capabilities of both 3D and standard 2.5D simulation are expanding rapidly.