Dear SPE GGS members:

Welcome to the New Year!  We are looking forward to a great year and hope that you can join us at as many of our monthly events as possible!   The board recently welcomed four new Directors: Rey Parel (Parel Engineering LLC), Brian Chek (Crown Manufacturing), Chancey Martin (Tarel Plastics) and Bret Baumgarten (SABIC Innovative Plastics).  We have been working together to provide quality events, including a variety of interesting technical talks/tours and networking opportunities.  Our primary objective is to promote scientific and engineering knowledge relating to plastics, but we also want to establish a venue for you to meet other plastics professionals who share common technical interests.

The board warmly welcomes (and encourages) your suggestions for future discussion/speaker topics, invited speakers, lab/manufacturing tours, and opportunities to co-sponsor events with other technical societies.  Please continue to support our local chapter.  I look forward to seeing you at this month’s event (we will email the details in the next few days).

Jennifer Hoffman
SPE GGS President
jhoffman@exponent.com
 

The GGS would like to thank all those that attended our Holiday Social in December. Special thanks to Jennifer and Mikki for their work on selecting CreoLa Restaurant and the menu.

Look for more diverse topics and speakers. With the upcoming new year, we have scheduled a tour of Tesla/Nummi and have begun planning our Eduction Night. Check the CALENDAR section of our web site for our future meetings and social events. We hope to see you at one of our monthly meetings.

Tech Tip January 2012

Tool Quality

As has been stated previously it takes 3 good parts to make up for the one bad part manufactured. Though it all starts with the design of the part, and then moves to the design of the tool to produce said part, one now needs to insure that the tool design / construction is correct.  If in fact the tool was not constructed to produce the quality parts that one wants, than nothing in processing is going to change that.  As written too many years ago, the plastic part only replicates the mold. Now when going into design/ construction and purchasing of the mold there are many factors to be considered.

1- What quality of part do we need to produce
2- how many parts do we need to get out of the tool weekly/ monthly / yearly / life
3- What cycle time do we need to achieve
4- What is the life of the product?

Once one has established those basic factors than one can look at establishing the following:

1- How many cavity
2- What style of mold
3- What runner type system
4- How do we package
5- Secondary operations

Understand there are many factors to consider in all these steps, and the one that always comes up is cost of tooling. Cost is not necessarily a quality component, but lends itself to what quality is delivered for a tool.  It must be understood that a tool is a capital expense, and as such has a life, amortization rate, and most important an upfront cost, along with a back end cost in that it is directly related to the cost of manufacture.
A mathematical equation might be: Cost of tool / production quality = allocation to each part.

Thus $100,000 tooling cost divided by 1,000,000 parts equals $0.10 per part. Other factors such as material price, processing fees all contribute to overall part cost. But now let’s say for example, the tooling cost was cut due to using low bidder, or saving on number of water lines or other design functions within the tool. That price came out to say $40,000, thus equating to a tool cost of per part of $0.04. The question here is the yield and cycle times the same? If yield goes down, we run more shots to get our production, if cycle time goes longer it takes longer to run production the cost goes up for machine time. If parting lines erode than higher maintenance cost exists on the tool, reduced output due to smaller processing window.

We are not saying a good quality tool cannot be purchased for a lower cost, but that quality of tooling must be considered. A real life example was a safety product which must be flat. After correcting many design issues and discussing with both processors and mold maker (prior to tool build) the tool was let for construction. Unfortunately during construction a change was made, per the designer whom, told the mold maker not to use inserts for this thicker material feature, all other thicker features used a high thermal conductive material inserted into the mold. The result was a longer cycle time to achieve the desired quality of parts, which resulted in higher part cost, and since this was a change to the original design, the molder could pass the cost on.  In the end the tool was shipped back to the tool maker to insert areas, which resulted in great parts at original cycle times and costs. The downside was product launch date was missed, and time and added cost were incurred.

Thanks for the time

TA-

Steven L Silvey
Silveys Plastic Consulting
360-882-3183
silveysplastics@hotmail.com

The last SPE Council was held Saturday, November 12 in Barcelona, Spain.

1) Jon Ratzlaff (Senior Vice-President) was elected President-Elect, Dick Cameron (Pittsburgh Section) was elected Senior Vice-President and Greg Campbell (Extrusion Division) was elected Vice-President.

2) EuroTEC had almost 200 papers and twice as many participants.   It looks to be a success both from a financial and programming perspective.

3) SPE is doing very well this year.  The biggest reason for this is that ANTEC did very well in Boston, and that all other expenses/incomes are in line with what was projected more or less.  SPE was able to pay down a line-of-credit which was taken out in 2008 primarily using funds generated this year.

4) Lesley Kyle (Senior Events Manager) will no longer be with SPE.  This is in addition to the loss of Susan Oderwald (Executive Director).   SPE is currently looking to hire a new Executive Director.  Lesley is not being replaced at the moment while the ED search is continuing.

5) SPE is opening up an office in Brussels.  The purpose of the office is to answer phones in whatever language is necessary for European members/prospective members.  SPE is outsourcing this to a firm, Kellen Inc. and not hiring any staff for this service.

6) Council passed a budget for next year.  The budget is projected to be in the black by $61 K.   There will be an ANTEC-type event in Mumbai in November 2012, entitled ANTEC-Mumbai.   SPE is partnering with NPE in Orlando to hold ANTEC in 2012, with the event being held from April 2-4.

7) SPE is putting in place procedures for Sections, Divisions etc to deactivate themselves.  Although this is not a happy thing to do, it is long overdue in my opinion because it provides for a more formal procedure.

As reported by Brian Grady, Attendee at Council in Barcelona in November 2011 as proxy for Tom Morton.

Respectively Submitted,

Michael LoDico
SPE GGS Councilor
mld@plasco-corp.com

Education Corner

CHICO

December at California State University, Chico, we have been diligently working with our vendors and suppliers to get our injection molded license plate frame project up and running.  We have allocated close to $4500 for an initial production and proof of concept.  I am really excited in the direction that our chapter has moved this semester, as we are venturing in to our very first full production project started by the students of SPE.

In January we will have the allocated funds available for use, and this is when the magic will start to happen.  We will be able to start turning some chips, shooting some plastic, and generating some revenue.  All we have to do now is wait for the new year.

 More to come from Chico State.

Sincerely,
Matthew Vella, SPE President
mvella@mail.csuchico.edu
 

SJSU

1) The SPE Student Chapter @ SJSU will be hosting a fundraiser/social next month.

WHAT? Social event with SJSU students and faculty. Also watch the San Jose Sharks take on the Nashville Predators.
WHEN? Saturday November 5th starting at 7:00pm
WHERE? 4th street pizza (At the corner of 4th st. and Santa Clara in San Jose)

A percentage of the profits from the food sales will be donated to our SPE chapter, please come and support.
Please RSVP to me or just drop by the day of the event.
 

2) We are looking for a polymer related facility which would like to host a tour for our SPE members.
If your company would like to host such an event sometime towards the middle of November please let us know, you can contact me.

Luis E. Ruelas
luisruelas@gmail.com
President Society of Plastic Engineers SJSU
 
 

The Society of Plastics Engineers is the most prestigious professional plastics society in the world. SPE is a global community of plastics engineers and other plastics professionals from hundreds of large and small companies, universities, government facilities, and technology providers in more than 70 countries.

SPE’s mission is to promote, advance, and disseminate the scientific and engineering knowledge relating to plastics and polymers. The Society believes that bringing together plastics professionals who are working or have worked in the field, as well as those studying plastics and polymer-related subjects, is the best way to further our society’s and our industry’s shared knowledge and goals.

SPE membership offers a myriad of exclusive technical information, education, training, networking, and career development benefits, as well as numerous opportunities for members to publish their work and share their knowledge with nearly 15,000 plastics professionals around the world.

Society members receive SPE’s highly-regarded magazine, Plastics Engineering—the industry leader. Plastics Engineering is available both in print and online. In addition, SPE members have access to all back issues of the groundbreaking technical journals Polymer Composites and Polymer Engineering & Science, and receive discounted rates on Journal of Vinyl & Additive Technology. Members can also share knowledge through the SPE Online Plastics Encyclopedia, and by subscribing to SPE Plastics Research Online and the Plastics Industry Resource. All SPE technical information is peer-reviewed for accuracy, timeliness, and interest to the worldwide plastics community.

SPE’s primary educational event is ANTEC®, the largest plastics technical conference in the world, which brings together more than 3,000 international plastics professionals and presents more than 700 technical sessions and presentations and discussions. More in-depth technical information on specific plastics, polymers, and industry topics is presented through the Society’s Topical Conferences (TopCons), which are sponsored by SPE’s technical Divisions. The latest ANTEC and TopCon proceedings, as well as earlier conference programs are available free to members. The Society also conducts technical conferences in partnership with other professional organizations in many countries, including EUROTEC, in Barcelona, Spain. SPE also offers interactive, web-based learning.

SPE members also have many opportunities to interact—both online and in person—via 25 technical Divisions, nearly 70 geographic Sections around the world, 18 Special Interest Groups, and numerous leadership Committees, as well as Linked In and Facebook communities, and more.

Plastics professionals can become members of the Society of Plastics Engineers by visiting the SPE website, at www.4spe.org.

Sincerely,
 

Sue Wojnicki SPE Membership

Some of the best business advice you’ll ever get your hands on might be found at an unlikely source: your toughest competitors. Identifying your competition’s best practices and adopting the ones that make sense for you can be an effective tactic. But be forewarned, they won’t give it up willingly. Making it happen requires some amateur detective work, but you don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes in order to succeed. Here are some tips to help you get started.

Leveraging the Internet is easy to do these days. “Google Alerts is an outstanding tool for ‘spying’ on your competitors,” suggests Patrick Schwerdtfeger, author of Marketing Shortcuts for the Self-Employed. For example, by entering a keyword phrase, such as, “insurance marketing Facebook success story,” the owner of an insurance agency or brokerage can receive regular emails with examples of how competitors are leveraging social media to promote their businesses. “Small business owners can create dozens of such alerts to keep themselves abreast of strategies that are producing results elsewhere in their respective industries,” he says.

Formulating and executing a well-defined strategy can help you organize your efforts. Conducting analysis of your competitors is a must, say Ross Kimbarovsky and Mike Samson, co-founders of crowdSPRING, an online matchmaking service for designers and providers of other creative services. They recommend a three-step approach. Start by identifying the competitors you want to monitor and defining the metrics you want to track. Are you interested in comparing revenues? Unique visitors to a website? Traffic rank? Then begin gathering the data—Google Analytics makes that easy to do—paying special attention to recent trends. Finally, analyze the data you have collected with an eye towards challenging your assumptions.

Consumer rating and review sites are great places to learn more about the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors. These sites are basically local directories that allow users to post comments about their experiences with businesses they’ve patronized. Among the largest are Yelp!, Insider Pages, Google Maps, Bing Local, City Search, Yahoo Local, Local.com, and Merchant Circle. Cranks and competing businesses sometimes try to game the system by skewing reviews for or against a particular business, but with a little practice you’ll be able to discern useful patterns in what others are saying about a competitor’s operation. It’s a good idea to create accounts for your own business on these sites, so you can see what others are saying about you.

As important as the online sphere has become, a great deal of business is still conducted in the “real” world, as opposed to the virtual one. If you have a business with a physical presence, your competitors probably do, too. The late Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart Stores, the world’s largest retailer, was famous for regularly visiting his competitors’ stores. Renowned as a believer in lifelong learning, he was convinced he had the most to learn from those he competed against. Visit your competitors’ outlets regularly. Pick up their marketing materials, subscribe to their newsletters, and attend their webinars. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so be on the alert for any successful tactics that might work for you. At the same time, watch for any vulnerabilities you might be able to exploit.
 

-Source: INC Magazine On-Line

Happy New Year! And what a year 2012 is shaping up to be as we mark SPI's 75th anniversary!

Seventy-five years ago a group of plastics industry trailblazers, realizing that they were stronger together than they were alone, formed a trade association called the Society of the Plastics Industry. Today we can all be grateful for their wisdom and foresight in understanding that networking and "strength in numbers" advocacy would be powerful tools for navigating the amazing growth and formidable challenges our industry would experience over the next several decades.

It is truly my honor to be president and CEO of SPI as we celebrate 75 years in 2012. Thanks to the efforts of plastics industry volunteers from SPI member companies, and the dedicated work of staff, SPI has accomplished a tremendous amount to advance plastics since its founding in 1937. I assure you that the officers, Board of Directors, Council and Committee members and staff of today’s SPI are committed to building on the foundation laid by the SPI guardians who came before us.

In 2012 SPI remains a member-driven, bottom-up organization. Throughout my involvement with SPI, both as a member and over the last seven years as president and CEO, I have found that the most innovative ideas and greatest accomplishments have occurred as a direct result of member participation and interaction with each other.....This is your association. Get involved, lend your expertise and demonstrate your commitment to our industry. Your
voice counts at SPI!

Happy New Year to you, and happy 75th anniversary to SPI!

Sincerely,

William R. Carteaux
President & CEO
SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association
spi@plasticsindustry.org

SPE and ANTEC Groups Continue To Grow on LinkedIn® and Facebook®

SPE has Largest Group for Plastics Professionals on LinkedIn
Membership in the LinkedIn® group of the Society of Plastics Engineers now exceeds 10,000, making it the largest group for plastics professionals on the LinkedIn social media platform.
The SPE LinkedIn Group has become an industry resource for plastics professionals who are seeking answers to technical questions, networking, and even employment opportunities.
 

If you're a member of LinkedIn or Facebook, join the Society of Plastics Engineers and ANTEC™ Groups and display their logos in your profile.

By Phil LaRoy, Vesta Project Engineer

The best part of my job is helping medical device manufacturers use molded silicone components in their innovations. After years of working on these collaborative projects, I’ve noticed that many medical device designers think silicone molding is basically the same as thermoplastics molding, but the two processes are actually quite different. Specifying optimal tolerances for silicone molding requires special consideration. In this article, I’ll offer three tips to help you understand silicone tolerances and facilitate the success of your next silicone medical device component.

[1] -Refer to the Rubber Manufacturing Association (RMA) manual when specifying tolerances. The RMA manual provides general guidelines for specifying the tolerances for molded components made of silicone rubber. Medical product tolerances most often fall under the association’s A1 high-precision tolerance category. Using these tolerance ranges as a starting point in your designs will help you keep your tolerance requirements achievable and economical. Tolerances outside this range may be difficult to meet, causing delays and adding expense to product development and production.

[2] -Find out how your design and the manufacturing process may impact your tolerances. Understanding the potential issues before you begin production will save you time, expense and frustration down the line. If necessary, consult with an expert who can tell you how the following factors will impact the ability to meet your tolerances:
Molding technique
Geometry of the component
Material shrink rate
Impact, if the product is overmolded on a substrate

[3] -Use the right tooling. Surprisingly, silicone is an abrasive material and causes significant wear on your tools during the manufacturing process. Good tool maintenance practices are essential for consistently meeting your tolerance requirements. To maximize the life of your tooling, you must use the right type for your product and manufacturing needs. Use the following categories as a general guideline when selecting the best tooling for your next silicone molded component:

Soft Tooling
~24RC
Typically used for prototype products
1,000 cycle guarantee

Pre-hard Production Tooling
33RC–50RC, depending on the steel grade
Used for production tooling
10,000–100,000 cycle guarantee, depending on the geometry of the component

High-precision / High-yield Production Tooling
Pre-hard base (33RC–50RC)
Full hard cavity inserts (60RC–61RC)
250,000+ cycle guarantee

I hope these tips help you the next time you begin designing a silicone medical device component. If you have any questions along the way, I’d be happy to answer them for you. After all, helping customers is what I love best about being a project engineer at Vesta. Feel free to contact me anytime at plaroy@vestainc.com
 

As the world's leading membership organization in the plastics industry, SPE is committed to providing a link between those seeking a specific resource and the providers of products and services.

This is a NEW online resource to help you quickly and easily find the expert services you need. The listing comprises members of the Society who offer technical and non-technical services, and is searchable in a variety of ways—by area of specialty, company name, and regions serviced.

For any questions about this service, please contact consultantscircle@4spe.org.

CLICK HERE FOR THE CONSULTANTS CIRCLE

Question:
What is post-curing and when should I consider it for my product?

Answer:
Post-curing is the process of “baking” a product for a specific time and temperature in an industrial oven once the molding process is complete. Post-curing times can range from 2–16 hours at temperature of 250–400°F.

Post-curing is most often used to remove volatiles from the silicone material and to stabilize the properties of the silicone material. Post-curing is not required for all molded silicone components. Product specifics such as part geometry, end-use, material composition, process settings and physical property requirements should be considered when deciding if post-curing is necessary for your product.

Celluloid is derived from cellulose and alcoholized camphor. John Wesley Hyatt invented celluloid as a substitute for the ivory in billiard balls in 1868. He first tried using collodion a natural substance, after spilling a bottle of it and discovering that the material dried into a tough and flexible film. However, the material was not strong enough to be used as a billiard ball, until the addition of camphor, a derivative of the laurel tree. The new celluloid could be molded with heat and pressure into a durable shape.
Besides billiard balls, celluloid became famous as the first flexible photographic film used for still photography and motion pictures. John Wesley Hyatt created celluloid in a strip format for movie film. By 1900, movie film was an exploding market for celluloid.

The Society of Plastics Engineers Mobile App is the premier mobile resource for plastics professionals. Use it to quickly find products and services, keep up with industry news and events, and stay in touch with the association – all conveniently from your iPhone.

TO VIEW THE iPHONE MOBILE APP FOR SPE --CLICK HERE

Question:
What do I need to consider when determining tolerances for my thermoplastic component?

Answer:
To specify optimal tolerances for thermoplastic extrusion, evaluate the following five factors:

Critical Features
Consider which features of your component are the most critical to the functionality of the medical device. Component dimensions directly impact the final product’s performance, so be sure to set appropriate tolerances for these dimensions to ensure functionality at both the low and high end of the tolerance.

Secondary Operations
Consider any secondary operations or automated manufacturing processes that may be required after extrusion. Assign tolerances that allow for the repeatability and reproducability of these additional operations.

Tolerance Stack-up
Consider any tolerance stack-up issues that could lead to yield loss. For example, a marker band with an ID of 0.040"±0.002" that fits over a shaft will require the shaft to have an upper-end tolerance that is less than the lower-end tolerance of the marker band.

Inspection Method
Consider the metrology equipment available to measure your component dimensions. If you specify a tolerance that is too tight and doesn’t have the appropriate inspection equipment to accurately measure, you risk false acceptance or false rejection of your component.

Tolerance Range
Consider the range of tolerances you specify. Overly tight tolerances may affect the yields or possibly require the supplier to conduct inspections, both of which will increase the cost of the product. You should assign the widest tolerance range the product can accept.

JANUARY 2012

Jan. 11, 2012
ASM Chapter Dinner Lecture
"Hybrid Molecular materials for emerging energy and nano technology"
Prof. Reinhold Dauskardt, Stanford Materials Science
Contact Al Kwong at (408) 248-1916 or al_kwong_41@yahoo.com

Jan. 21-26, 2012
San Francisco Photonics West
http://spie.org/x2584.xml
 

FEBRUARY 2012

Feb 12-16, 2012
San Jose -SPIE Advanced Lithography conference
http://spie.org/advanced-lithography.xml?WT.mc_id=RAL12BE

Feb. 22, 2012
San Jose  -Northern California Chapter AVS 33rd Annual Vacuum Equipment Exhibition
http://chapters.avs.org/nccavs/pages/symposia_nccavs.htm
 

MARCH 2012

March 18-22, 2012
San Jose -Annual SEMI-THERM meeting
http://www.semi-therm.org/

March 25-29, 2012
San Diego -National ACS Meeting
http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content

March 28, 2012
SJSU -2012 Bay Area Biomedical Device Conference
http://www.engr.sjsu.edu/~bmes/BMDConf2012/
 

Some polymers, because of their geometry, pack together very tightly in a regular order when the material is hard and are called "CRYSTALLINE." These polymers usually exhibit a very sharp melting point; that is, they are solid. Then with a small increase in temperature they become liquid or melt. An illustration of a sharp melting point is the melting of ordinary candle wax. Some examples of crystalline plastic materials are nylon, acetal, polyethylene, and polypropylene. The crystalline polymers provide superior properties, but they tend to shrink a considerable amount as they cool and reharden.

Materials that do not crystallize upon solidifying are called "AMORPHOUS." These materials demonstrate a gradual softening as the temperature is increased. Some examples of amorphous materials are acrylics, polycarbonate, and ABS. These materials are usually not as easily processed as the crystalline material since they do not flow as easily during molding.

Polymer chemists may also vary how the polymer chains are constructed by grafting. This allows the properties of a material to be further tailored to meet the specific needs of an application.

Some plastic materials have exceptional impact performance and very good load carrying capability; however, the performance of a material can be greatly reduced by having sharp corners on the part. The sharp corners can be part of the design or from machining operations. A SHARP CORNER IS A GREAT PLACE FOR A CRACK TO START. The Izod impact strength of a tough material like polycarbonate is reduced from 20 to 2 as the radius of the notch is reduced from 0.020"R to 0.005"R respectively.

The sharp corners not only reduce the impact resistance of a part, but also allow for a stress concentration to occur and encourage the premature failure of a load carrying part.

MINIMIZING SHARP CORNERS MAY MAKE THE MACHINING OPERATION MORE DIFFICULT; HOWEVER, IT MAY BE CRUCIAL TO THE PART'S SUCCESS.

Edges of sheet being used in impact applications like glazing must also be finished to be free of sharp notches. This is a concern with acrylics and even tough materials like polycarbonate.

The Dielectric Constant is the ratio of the capacitance (AC voltage) of electrodes with the insulating material between them to the capacitance of the same electrodes with a vacuum or dry air in between.

The dielectric constant is a measure of how good a material works to separate the plates in a capacitor. Remember that the molecules are like little magnets and are trying to realign themselves every time the voltage (current) changes direction. Some materials do it better than others.

The dielectric constant for a vacuum has a value of 1. Dry air is very nearly 1. All other materials have "dielectric constants" that are greater than 1. The "dielectric constant" for a plastic material can vary with the presence of moisture, temperature, and the frequency of the alternating current (and voltage) across the plates.

The units for frequency are usually "HERTZ (Hz)" which means cycles per second. 3 kilohertz is the same as 3,000 hz and 3 megahertz is the same as 3,000,000 hz.

When plastics emerge from reactors, they may have the desired properties for a commercial product or not. The inclusion of additives may impart to plastics specific properties. Some polymers incorporate additive during manufacture. Other polymers include additives during processing into their finished parts. Additives are incorporated into polymers to alter and improve basic mechanical, physical or chemical properties. Additives are also used to protect the polymer from the degrading effects of light, heat, or bacteria; to change such polymer processing properties such as melt flow; to provide product color; and to provide special characteristics such as improved surface appearance, reduced friction, and flame retardancy.

Types of Additives:

Antioxidants: for plastic processing and outside application where weathering resistance is needed
Colorants: for colored plastic parts
Foaming agents: for expanded polystyrene cups and building board and for polyurethane carpet underlayment
Plasticizers: used in wire insulation, flooring, gutters, and some films
Lubricants: used for making fibers
Anti-stats: to reduce dust collection by static electricity attraction
Antimicrobials: used for shower curtains and wall coverings
Flame retardants: to improve the safety of wire and cable coverings and cultured marble
 

NEWS AND LINKS
 

SPE GGS VIDEO LENDING LIBRARY	ANTEC INFORMATION PAGE	HIGH SCHOOL ESSAY CONTEST
SPE FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIPS	SPE ON-LINE STORE	SPE GGS TECH TOPICS ARCHIVE
SPE WEBINARS	SPE ON-LINE TECHNICAL LIBRARY	SPE FOUNDATION GRANTS
SPE GGS EDUCATION CORNER	PLASTICS  RECYCLING RESEARCH LAB	BAY AREA LOWELL ALUMNI

The on-line version of the SPE GGS Spearhead is published 10 times a year. All rights are reserved. Errors and omissions are regrettable and will be corrected if possible. We reserve the right to edit any submissions. No form of this newsletter may be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the SPE GGS. To submit articles, information, corrections, or additions to the on-line Spearhead, contact spearhead@spe-ggs.org.