New Dimension in Plastic Medical Parts Production
A new dimension is coming to medical device manufacturing — a third dimension, if you will. It’s the marriage of 3D printing and plastic injection-molded medical devices, and it’s revolutionizing the...
View ArticleHow To Make Prototypes That Are Just Your Type!
Even if 3D printing eventually usurps plastic injection molding — and that’s a BIG if — prototypes will continue to play an indispensable role in the production of plastic parts. Why? Simply put,...
View ArticleAdditive Manufacturing: The Faster Dimension in Plastic Injection Molding
Just when you thought it was safe to use the term “3D printing”, along comes “additive manufacturing”, which seems to be the current buzzword of choice among academic researchers around the world,...
View ArticleThe Climate is Right For Bioplastics
With more and more attention focused on the effects of climate change, interest in bioplastics — which are produced from renewable biomass materials such as plant starch and vegetable fat — has grown...
View ArticleThermosets, Thermoplastics and Elastomers: A Primer
Okay, let’s start out with a few basic concepts… Thermoplastics are formed into products when they are molten: their ultimate shape and internal structure is determined by cooling. If a malformation...
View ArticlePlastic Bikinis? You Bet Your PET!
Plastic as art? You’d get a lot of guffaws from the general public, which is more familiar with artistic materials such as oil paint and metal sculpture, even glass. But plastic? Puh-leeze! But the...
View ArticleBrave New Shop Floor: Artificially Intelligent
Twenty years is a long time in the plastic injection molding industry. Even thought the internet age had already dawned in the ’90s, a shop floor manager working in that era would most likely have...
View ArticleCan you dig a plastic can?
Tin can. Aluminum can. Steel can. Plastic can. Say what? Plastic can? Why not? Plastic cans are compatible with standard metal canning manufacturing systems and offer several significant advantages....
View ArticleFiber Optic Solution Will Melt The Heart Of Your Thermocouple!
It had to happen sooner or later. We’re talking about fiber optics vs. thermocouples: which sensor is better at monitoring melt-temperature during the injection molding process? For years, the...
View ArticlePlastics Business as usual in Turkey
Although you hear about Turkey a lot these days, the news is almost always bad: terrorism, civil wars in neighboring countries, migrant crises… the list goes on and on. Overlooked in all this is...
View ArticleInternet Injects New Urgency Into Plastic Injection Molding
The internet has greatly sped up the pace of business, and the plastic injection molding industry is no exception. For example, it wasn’t that long ago when it took designers weeks or even months to...
View ArticlePlastic Injection or Blow Molding For Food Packaging?
Plastic packaging for food and beverage products comes in all shapes, sizes and colors. But which standard plastic parts-forming process — blow-molding or plastic injection molding — is the right one...
View ArticleThe Skinny on Thin-Walled Plastic Injection Molding
Smaller… Lighter…Faster: Such is the mantra for many plastic injection molders these days, especially in the area of “thin wall” parts-manufacturing. “Thin-wall” in relation to portable electronics...
View ArticleFeed Rate: A Primer
It’s simple, really: the primary purpose of feed rate control in regard to plastic injection molding is to achieve consistently accurate proportions of recipe components (resin and required additives)...
View ArticleTaking Your Temperature(s): A Degree of Difference
Melt Temperature. Of all the hundreds of processing variables to control in injection molding, the temperature of the plastic, especially its melt temperature, is paramount, no doubt. After all,...
View ArticleThe Robots Are Coming! (Wait a second… they’re here!)
They are the perfect employee: fast, productive and salary-free. And they never need to take a break (unless they break!) Of course, we’re talking robots. And, while they aren’t new to plastic...
View ArticleAn All-Plastic Car? It’s nearer than you think!
Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, cars were made out of three materials: metal, metal and more metal. OK, that’s something of a hyperbole but not much — automobiles of the 20’s, 30’s, 40’s and...
View ArticleYou Don’t Have To Put A Label On It!
Manufacturing is all about reducing complexity. After all, if you can remove a step from the process, wouldn’t that save time and (of course) money? The big question is, (also, of course)”how”? Enter...
View ArticleBottled Water: Not ‘Green’ but making Green!
Believe it or not, sales of bottled water is set to overtake sales of carbonated soft drinks by late this year, or early next year, industry observers say. This despite the fact that bottled water is...
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Plastics Technology Tips Its ‘Cap’ To Our New Beverage ‘Cap-ability’!
In its May 2016 issue, Plastics Technology turns the spotlight on our CEO, Al Zoller, and our new liner-less one-piece injection molded cap for carbonated soft drinks, bottled water and other...
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