Scalable Automation Brought to Materials Testing
Tinius Olsen brings scalable, fully automated robotic systems to various materials tests. 

Add Automation to Your Lab
Robots are commonplace on the production floor, cutting costs and improving efficiencies for molders and other processors. Now, those same benefits can also be achieved in the lab.

Auxiliaries AT NPE: New Controls Link Auxiliaries
Industry 4.0—the internet of things—is bringing a new level of connectivity to auxiliary equipment. Here’s a rundown of developments there, along with other news in auxiliaries from the show.

AUXILIARIES AT NPE: More Control, Flexibility, And Efficiency
These are key trends in the many kinds of auxiliary equipment displayed at this month’s show. You’ll also see equipment designed to be virtually ‘foolproof.’

How to Get Better MFI Test Results
It's the most common materials-property test performed by processors and resin suppliers alike, but it is susceptible to multiple sources of error.

K 2013: More Efficient, Flexible & User-Friendly Auxiliaries
It’s hard to generalize about auxiliary equipment, but a few trends stood out at K, including: greater energy efficiency, ease of maintenance and cleaning, controls that provide more real-time and historical process information and greater ease of use.

Auxiliaries at NPE: News in Materials Handling, Cooling, Granulating, Welding, Testing, Decorating
Auxiliary equipment takes in a broad range of functions, from materials preparation to post-mold finishing.

AUXILIARIES: Melt Indexer Is Accurate, Stable
On display this month at NPE2012 in Orlando is the new MP1200 extrusion plastometer from Tinius Olsen, Horsham, Pa.

How to Get Better MFI Results
The MFI test is used widely among the various segments of the plastics industry. The difficulty is that any two labs can easily come up with different results, making it difficult to determine whether a material meets a desired MFI spec. Here are some reasons why such discrepancies occur and what can be done about them.

Testing & Measuring Instruments: More Versatile, Compact, Affordable
From polymer characterization to on-line bottle or preform inspection, coordinate measuring, and color sensing, new testing and measuring instruments at the NPE show in Chicago were easier to use and more compact, yet often packed higher performance than earlier versions—and sometimes with a more attractive price tag.

NPE 2006 News Wrap-Up: Testing and QC--New Lab Instruments Stress Affordability and Convenience
Thermal and mechanical testers, color and appearance sensors, vision inspection devices and CMMs—the NPE had them all in more compact, economical, and easy-to-use models.

How to Buy Universal Testing Machines
More processors today are buyingso-called ‘universal’ testers to measure tensile, flexural, compressive, and shear properties for materials evaluation, application development, and quality control. Advanced electronics have improved these instruments’ performance and ease of use—and even led to lower prices.

From NPE 2000: The Latest Instruments For Testing & QC
The huge triennial plastics exhibition in June showcased new developments in product inspection and lab instruments for testing mechanical properties, melt rheology, weatherability, color, and appearance.If you are looking to outfit a new lab or upgrade an existing one, the NPE 2000 show in Chicago this past June spotlighted many new instruments for use in product development, material evaluation, and quality control.

NPE News Wrap-Up: Testing & Measuring Instruments
There was no shortage of new developments in product inspection devices and instruments for testing color and appearance as well as mechanical, rheological, thermal, and weathering properties.

IMPACT: Which Test to Use? Which Instrument to Buy?
Impact testing is a complex and controversial subject, and one that is in the midst of change. These factors add challenge to selection of the most appropriate impact instrument for a processor's lab.

The Latest Instruments For Testing & QC
The huge triennial plastics exhibition in June showcased new developments in product inspection and lab instruments for testing mechanical properties, melt rheology, weatherability, color, and appearance.