Seminar Outline

  1. Introduction & Overview
    1. Purpose
    2. Perspectives on the plastics' industry, manufacturing
    3. Profits
    4. What is your product
    5. The components of a successful plastic's application
    6. Concurrent engineering and its benefits
    7. The four molding variables
    8. Machine conditions vs. Plastic conditions
  2. Processing Guidelines
    1. Starting off True North
    2. Five Plastic Variables
    3. Machine vs. Plastic conditions
    4. Detailed Process optimization at the press
  3. Common Molding Problems: Causes and Solutions; Class Picks Topics!
    1. Splay
    2. Color streaking, swirls, marbling
    3. Bubbles in clear parts
    4. Pin (ejector) push marks, see also parts sticking
    5. Shorts, sinks, record grooves or waves
    6. Flash
    7. Warp/Dimensional Stability
    8. Burns
    9. Black Specks
    10. Worm Tracks or Jetting
    11. Brittleness
    12. Contamination
    13. Delamination
    14. Weldlines
    15. Poor living hinge life
    16. Gate Blush
    17. Gloss, and gloss gradients
    18. Hot Runner issues
    19. Infrared Thermography
    20. Plus any topic of your choice

Seminar Outline

  1. Introduction
    1. Purpose
    2. Perspectives on the plastics' industry, Injection Molding
    3. Profits
    4. The five components of a successful plastics' application
    5. Concurrent engineering and its benefits
    6. History and Trends
    7. You want it when?
  2. Polymer Basics and Resin Selection
    1. Where plastics originate
    2. Chain length and molecular weight distribution
    3. Melt Flow Rate testing
    4. Moisture Sensitive Polymers
    5. Degradation
    6. Use of regrind
    7. Plastic Categories
      1. Thermoset LSR
      2. Thermoplastic
    8. Amorphous vs. Semi-crystalline plastics
      1. Crystallinity
      2. Mold shrinkage
      3. Degree of Crystallinity
      4. Additives
    9. Warp
  3. Material selection and Testing; a designer's guide
    1. Questions that must be answered
    2. Properties to watch during the selection process
    3. What the physical tests will tell you
    4. Single point data vs. curves
    5. Polymer Testing
      1. Selected physical property tests
      2. Comparing data sheets
      3. Glenn Beall's check list
  4. Overview of Injection Molding Processing
    1. Machine Components
    2. How the machine works
      1. Hydraulic
      2. Electric
      3. What is important for the Designer, Mold Maker: mold opening
    3. Processing
      1. Plastic flow
      2. Multi-cavity flow
      3. Press issues
      4. Identical Parts over Time/Shipments/States/Countries
      5. Process Parameters You Need to Watch, run to run; different presses; identical part
    4. Mold/Tool Design/components
      1. Tool Design
      2. Mold Components
      3. Hot vs. Cold Runner
      4. Multicavity Molds
      5. Gating
      6. Hot tips
      7. Runners Sizing
      8. Mold-filling analysis
        1. Accuracy of CAD model/Resin data, no general comments
        2. Full CAD model, all the details
        3. Accuracy of Resin data
      9. Example with benefits and issues
      10. Venting
      11. Silicone molds
  5. Offshore Manufacturing (on request only)
    1. Reasons to locate offshore
    2. Reasons not to move offshore
    3. Approaches to offshore manufacturing
    4. Proactive check-ups
    5. Additional thoughts
  6. Piece Part Design: The Plastics Perspective (It is not nice to fool with Mother Nature)
    1. Components of Design
      1. Nominal Wall
      2. Projections
      3. Depressions/Holes
    2. Uniform Nominal Wall
      1. Shrinkage, Amorphous vs. Semi-Crystalline
      2. Changes in nominal wall
      3. Radii
      4. Dimensional Stability - Cooling and Warp
      5. Nominal wall transition/junction/radius
      6. Filling pattern
      7. Joining flat plates
      8. Radius
      9. Warp
      10. Draft
      11. Polish/Texture
      12. Case Histories
    3. Projections
      1. Ribs
      2. Bosses
      3. Gussets
      4. Flow considerations
      5. Sink/shrink cosmetics
      6. Venting
    4. Depressions/Holes
      1. Blind Holes
      2. Through Holes
      3. Venting
      4. Fasteners
      5. How to form, tooling issues
      6. Weldlines
      7. Filling/Flow considertions
      8. Stress Management
    5. Bealls 13 Rules
    6. Tolerances
  7. Hinges and Snap Joint Techniques
    1. Flexible design techniques
    2. Distortion snaps
    3. Press-fit assembly
    4. Snap-fits, snap-hook designs, cantilever snap joints, annular snap-joints, latches, permanent snap design and twist snaps.
  8. Miscellaneous
    1. Instructors information
    2. Resources
    3. Checklists
    4. Essential information to be agreed upon by product designed and mold designer
    5. Test your knowledge of plastic part design

Seminar Outline

 

  1. Introduction: The Strategy
    1. Purpose
    2. Perspectives on the plastics' industry, Manufacturing
    3. Staying Competitive
    4. Key components of a successful validation/plastics application
    5. Concurrent engineering and its benefits
    6. Organizing the hundreds of variables in processing/parts; four categories
    7. Machine conditions vs. Plastic conditions
    8. Validation Strategy
    9. Case History
  2. Piece Part Design Overview, You cannot violate laws of nature!
    1. Components of Design
    2. The "Golden Rule" for nominal wall
    3. Shrinkage, Amorphous vs. Semi-Crystalline
    4. Cooling and Warp
    5. Draft
    6. Venting
    7. Gating with respect to weldlines
  3. Polymer Overview
    1. Polymer Basics, making and breaking polymer chains
    2. Moisture Sensitivity relative to performance
    3. Critical for success
    4. Costs for replacement
    5. What data sheets tell you
    6. Single point data
  4. IQ (Installation Qualification)
    1. Medical Device Quality Systems Manual Reprints
    2. Check List
    3. Mold/Tooling Requirements
    4. Machine Calibrations
    5. Machine Function (Machine Audit)
    6. Clean room requirements
  5. OQ (Operational Qualification; Establish a Process, Document and Define Ranges/Window; Starting with a Pre-run or Baseline Process)
    1. Step 1: Optimizing First Stage: Plastic Flow Rate
      1. How plastic flows, viscosity
      2. Viscosity curve
      3. Viscosity vs. temperature, lot variations and injection rate
      4. Flow balance
      5. Cruise Control on injection molding machines
      6. Two stage molding
      7. Case history
      8. Non-return valve (check ring) and nozzles
      9. Nozzle tips
    2. Step 2: Optimizing Second Stage: Plastic Pressure
      1. Basic hydraulics
      2. Hydraulic Pressure vs. Melt Pressure
      3. Back Pressure
      4. Intensification Ratio
      5. Pressure Loss
      6. Gate seal vs. unseal
      7. Pressure vs. time graphs
      8. Clamp force
      9. Platen wrap
      10. Pressure Loss Documentation
    3. Step 3: Cooling Rate and Time
      1. Percent of Cycle
      2. Turbulent Flow
      3. Series vs. parallel circuits
      4. Cooling issues
      5. Infrared Thermography
      6. Cycle time optimization studies
    4. Step 4: Plastic Temperature
      1. The hopper
      2. Drying
      3. The feed throat
      4. Barrel vs. melt temperatures
      5. Screw components and design
      6. How plastics melt
      7. Back pressure
      8. Screw problems
      9. How to measure temperature
    5. Step 5: Challenge the Process
      1. When to start saving parts
      2. Force viscosity variations
      3. Different resins?
      4. Capability studies
    6. Step 6: Test the part; expect issues to develop
      1. Test Conditions
      2. Thermocycle
      3. Environment
      4. Metrology
      5. First article inspections (FAI's)
      6. Visual inspections
    7. Do the DOE's Necessary/Correctly
      1. What are the issues, problem(s) clearly defined?
      2. List factors
        1. Possible factors
        2. Recommendations
      3. Factors with respect to four plastic categories
      4. Do we know the response for any of these factors
      5. Select Factors (variables)
      6. Machine "Set Points" vs. "Plastic Conditions"
      7. DOE check list
      8. Screening DOW's to establish process window
    8. Documentation
      1. Set up sheet per machine
      2. Universal Set up sheet, mold specific
      3. Process Monitoring Recommendations
        1. First tier
        2. Second tier
  6. PQ (Process Performance Qualification; Test production performance of the process under "production" conditions)
    1. Run established process for production, time 4 - 24 hours
      1. Lot variations
      2. Different Processors
      3. Shift changes
    2. Run on different machines
    3. Verify output, Dimensions, function, capability, scrap etc.
    4. Document corrective action and confirm
    5. Evaluate entire system, molding, secondary operations, labels, and document results
    6. Implement corrective actions
    7. Document process/equipment changes
    8. Process monitoring variables
    9. Obtain customer approval
  7. Miscellaneous
    1. Universal Setup Sheet
    2. Optimization Guidelines
    3. Recommended resources and web sites
    4. Background
    5. Evaluation

Seminar Outline

  1. Introduction
    1. Purpose
    2. Perspectives on the plastics' industry, Manufacturing
    3. Profits
    4. What is your product
    5. The five components of a successful plastics' application
    6. Concurrent engineering and its benefits
    7. The four processing categories
    8. Machine conditions vs. Plastic conditions
  2. Polymer Basics
    1. Where plastics originate
    2. Plastics and the environment
    3. Recycling of Plastics
    4. The making of a Polymer
      1. Addition polymers
      2. Condensation polymers
    5. Chain length and molecular weight distribution
    6. Melt Flow Rate testing
    7. Polymer vs. Plastics
    8. Moisture Sensitive Polymers
      1. Why dry polymers
      2. How to correctly dry polymers
      3. Moisture Analysis
    9. Use of regrind
  3. Amorphous vs. Semi-crystalline plastics
    1. Crystallinity
    2. Mold shrinkage
      1. Part thickness
      2. Cavity pressure
      3. Degree of Crystallinity
      4. Additives
    3. Warp
    4. Living hinge
    5. Dimensional control
    6. Latest heat of fusion
    7. Energy to melt
  4. Polymer Flow
    1. Viscosity Curve
    2. Injection vs. Pack & Hold (Second stage)
  5. Material selection and Testing; a designer's guide
    1. Questions that must be answered
    2. Properties to watch during the selection process
    3. What the physical tests will tell you
    4. Single point data vs. curves
    5. Doing it right the first time, changing cost $
  6. Polymer Testing
    1. Selected physical property tests
    2. Comparing data sheets
  7. Piece Part Design Overview, The Plastics Perspective; It's not nice to fool Mother Nature
    1. Components of Design
    2. The "Golden Rule" for nominal wall
    3. Shrinkage, Amorphous vs. Semi Crystalline
    4. Cooling and Warp
    5. Draft
    6. Venting
    7. Gating with respect to weldlines
  8. Overview of Injection Molding
    1. Machine Components
    2. How the machine works
      1. Hydraulic
      2. Electric

Seminar Outline

  1. Introduction & Overview
    1. Purpose
    2. Perspectives on the plastics' industry, manufacturing
    3. Profits
    4. What is your product
    5. The components of a successful plastic's application
    6. Concurrent engineering and its benefits
    7. The four molding categories
    8. Machine conditions vs. Plastic conditions
    9. Machine and Molding Overview
      1. When and with what did the molding industry get started
      2. Basic injection molding concept
      3. Machine components
      4. Machine component functions
      5. Videos of machine components and functions
  2. Optimizing First Stage: Plastic Flow Rate
    1. How plastics flow, viscosity
    2. Viscosity curve
    3. Viscosity vs. temperature, lot variations and injection rate
    4. Flow balance
    5. Cruise control on injection molding machines
    6. Two stage molding
    7. Case histories
    8. Non-return valve (check ring)
    9. Nozzles/mixers
    10. Nozzle tips
  3. Plastic Pressure
    1. Basic hydraulics
    2. Hydraulic Pressure vs. Melt Pressure
    3. Back Pressure
    4. Intensification Ratio
    5. Pressure Loss
    6. 1st to 2nd state switchover variations
    7. Gate seal vs. unseal
    8. Pressure vs. time graphs
    9. Minimizing cycle, what limits cycle time
    10. Clamp force
    11. Platen wrap
    12. Platen Protection for Engineering Resins
    13. Pressure Loss Documentation
  4. Cooling Rate and Time
    1. Cycle Percentage
    2. Three types of cooling
    3. Turbulent Flow
    4. Series vs. parallel circuits
    5. Cooling issues
    6. Newer methods for high temperature molds
    7. Infrared Imaging of mold and part
  5. Plastic Temperature (What's it like for the plastic to go through the machine)
    1. The hopper
    2. Drying
    3. The feed throat
    4. Barrel vs. melt temperatures
    5. Screw components
    6. Screw design for, properties, melt uniformity, color mixing & resin/color changes
    7. How plastics melt
    8. Back pressure
    9. Screw problems
    10. How to measure
  6. Miscellaneous
    1. Process Optimization Procedure
    2. Universal Setup Sheet Documentation
    3. Recommended resources and websites
    4. Hot Runner Startup
    5. Energy Saving Tips
    6. Items for sale
    7. Knowledge survey
    8. Evaluation