processing tips
Up to Snuff on Scientific Molding? Then it’s Time to Mold ‘Systematically’
Scientific molding is centered around learning about key molding principles and theories. The strategic application of those principles and theories is what’s known as systematic molding.
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How to Improve Production of Catheters and Stents
Advances in downstream extrusion equipment have boosted production control.
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Reducing Low-Level Background Gels in PE Film
While considered acceptable in many cases, they need not be tolerated and are usually attributable to minor screw-design flaws. Here’s some advice on what to do about them.
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Pellet to Gate Control: The Value of a Holistic View of Melt Management
Molders tend to think about the elements of a melt-delivery system, from screw to hot-runner gate, in isolation from each other. But taking an integrated view of the whole system can have big consequences for cycle time, part quality, scrap rates, and energy consumption.
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Injection Molding: Is There a ‘Most-Important’ Process Parameter?
A case can be made for multiple variables—fill balance, fill time, injection pressure, cavity pressure—as most important. But there is something else altogether that is essential to successful injection molding.
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A Processor’s Most Important Job, Part 8: Molded-In Stress
How processing adjustments can control molded-in stress.
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Improving Molding Process Capability: The Role of the Five Essential Pillars, Part 2
Each contributes to molded-part quality, and each must be optimized before production begins.
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Injection Molding: Fill Based on Volume, Not Weight
Most parts should be 90-99% full after first-stage—by volume not weight. Here’s why that’s important and how to make a first-stage-only part.
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A Processor's Most Important Job, Part 7: Reviewing Crystallinity
There are several process-related issues that influence crystallinity besides cooling rate. Let’s examine a few.
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Extrusion: A Simple Way to Evaluate Your Screw Performance, Part 2
A hand-held calculator and some basic equations can help determine whether your screw is up to snuff.
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