May 2001 Issue
May 2001
Features
Featured articles from the latest issue of Plastics Technology
Experience Counts
If I were scaling a mountain peak, I would want to be confident that every member of my climbing team “knew the ropes.” You know what I mean: You want the best people in your plant on those critical jobs.
Read MoreNew Polypropylene/PPO Alloys Fill a Cost/Performance Gap
A brand-new family of thermoplastics for automotive and other markets offers an intermediate range of cost and performance between those of TPOs and engineering resins such as nylon, ABS, long-glass PP, and some modified PET and PBT materials. GE Plastics, Pittsfield, Mass., has broadened its Noryl range of PPO alloys by adopting a new matrix material: polypropylene. New patent-pending technology allows the incompatible PP and PPO materials to be blended so as to create new balances of stiffness, toughness, and heat resistance in a moderate price range. Initial Noryl PPX grades are priced between $1.20 and 1.80/lb.
Read MoreTrouble in Toyland Puts Premium on Lean Manufacturing
For a century, the Hedstrom companies have produced millions of play balls and components for gym and swing sets, riding toys, and other juvenile products. Today, faced with intensifying competitive pressures, the group is hard at work putting the right bounce into its survival strategy for one of the toughest molding sectors.
Read MoreThe Next Generation of Rotomolding Technology
Sophisticated machinery, more engineering-grade materials, and more challenging applications are broadening the field for rotomolding.
Read MoreCommingled Plastic Waste: New Gold Mine for Automotive Processors
Instead of going to landfills, previously unusable mixed waste like auto shredder residue is yielding a new trove of inexpensive engineering resins for car parts. Sortation technologies derived from the mining industry can pull out usable ABS, PC, acrylic, PP, TPO, and PPO alloys.
Read MoreFast, Low-Cost Way to Make Short-Run Molds for Thermoforming
A new rapid manufacturing method for prototype thermoforming tools developed by Vantage Tool and Engineering (VTE) of Fort Wayne, Ind., generates high-quality short-run tooling in half the time and for half the cost of an aluminum production mold. VTE’s low-cost molds have proven useful for up to 500 molding cycles. Previous materials used for prototype or short-run thermoform tooling, such as epoxy or wood, reportedly are less durable and less able to provide highly detailed parts.
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