Materials Know How
Tracing the History of Polymeric Materials: Commodity Resins
How the ‘Big 4’ commodity materials — PE, PP, PS, PVC — came to be.
Read MoreTracing the History of Polymeric Materials: More on Phenolic
Creation of an invention like phenolic can be traced through a long chain of events and contributors. Here’s the full story.
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Tracing the History of Polymeric Materials: Phenolics
In this installment we discuss the discovery of Bakelite, the first truly synthetic polymer, known today as phenolic.
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Tracing the History of Polymeric Materials: Celluloid & Film Stock
In this series we delve into a discerning look back into the history of our industry and how we all got here.
Read MoreTracing the History of Polymeric Materials--There's More on Celluloid
The invention of Celluloid got the ball rolling for future innovations in materials and processing.
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Tracing the History of Polymeric Materials: Celluloid
In this series we’ll delve into a discerning look back into the history of our industry and how we all got here.
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Materials: Annealing Tips for Polyamide-imide, Part 7 of 7
PAI is a material capable of achieving levels of performance that even semi-crystalline engineering polymers like PEEK, PPS, and PPA cannot. But you have to be willing to work for that performance, and the annealing process is an essential part of this.
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Materials Part 6 of 7: Annealing Tips for Thermoplastic Polyurethanes
TPUs form physical, rather than chemical, crosslinks that can be broken by reheating. Formation of these crosslinks can be sped up by annealing, which improves a variety of properties.
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Materials Part 5: Annealing Tips for Crosslinked Polymers
As with semi-crystalline thermoplastics, annealing can be used in thermosetting polymers to obtain a level of crosslinking that may not be possible within the molding cycle.
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Materials: Annealing Tips for Semi-Crystalline Polymers: Part 4
You can forgo the elevated mold temperatures normally recommended for high-performance semi-crystalline materials. But it’s risky and likely to yield parts that under-perform expectations … assuming that they emerge from the annealing process looking anything like the drawing.
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