PT Blog

On the same day, when in Mexico City, Perc Pineda, chief economist of the Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) walked through the extensive trade ties in plastics shared between the neighboring countries—$28 billion of cross border plastics shipments in 2018—interim PLASTICS President & CEO Patty Long released a statement from Washington outlining the negative impacts of a closure of the U.S./Mexico border.

The statement, entitled, “Plastics Industry Warns Against Closing U.S.-Mexico Border,” didn’t mention what precipitated its release: President Trump’s threat five days earlier to close the U.S./Mexico border. Instead, in three paragraphs and just under 200 words, it laid out the potential harm such an action would inflict on the economies of both countries.

Erik Sherburne, quality manager at medical molder and contract manufacturer Advance Molding Technologies, Circle Pines, Minn., has a bold (if asterisked) topic for his presentation at Amerimold’s Medical Injection Molding Workshop (June 12, Rosemont, Ill.)—cutting process validation time in half.

The asterisk is the fact that process validation time reductions ultimately depend on the part in question, but in his presentation, Sherburne will walk attendees through the steps they need to take to go from process validation to repeatable production as quickly as possible.

‘Mayday’ proved interesting in commodity resin pricing with prices increases underway for PE, PP, and PS, and at least slightly downward for PVC and PET. While higher global crude oil prices were a variable for successful or attempted price initiatives, domestic market fundamentals included ample resin supplies, relatively sluggish demand, and in most cases, lower feedstock costs.

Take a look at how purchasing consultants from Resin Technology, Inc. (RTi), Fort Worth, Texas; senior editors from Houston-based PetroChemWire (PCW); and CEO Michael Greenberg of the Plastics Exchange in Chicago, see things shaking out:

A method to tailor the properties of stress-indicating molecules that can be integrated into polymers and signal damages or excessive mechanical loads with an optical signal, has been developed by researchers at the University of Fribourg’s Adolphe Merkle Institute (AMI) in Switzerland and Hokkaido University in Japan.

As part of their research activities within the National Center of Competence in Research Bio-inspired Materials, Professor Christoph Weder, the chair of Polymer Chemistry and Materials at AMI, and his team are investigating polymers that change their color or fluorescence characteristics when placed under mechanical load.

We were recently contacted by Material Connexion, a Sandow Media company, which boasts a 20-year run as a global materials and innovation resource that connects clients with over 10,000 materials and technologies to help create the products and services of tomorrow.

An expert team of material scientists works across industries to find the most sustainable and innovative materials that are setting industry trends, according to marketing manager Lynette Grodskiy. With locations in New York City, High Point, N.C., Bangkok, Bilbao, Daegu, Milan, Skövde, and Tokyo, Material Connexion's network of specialists provides a global, cross-industry perspective on materials, design, new product development, sustainability, and innovation.