Thermoplastic Resin Selection – it is the foundation of your design.

One of the frequent discussions at PlastiCert revolves around resin. Either selecting one for a new project or selecting an alternative for an existing product.

We feature it briefly on our FAQ page. It is totally dependent on your specific product’s application. That is not the end of the effort though. Other factors come into play like pricing, availability, stage of life (for that thermoplastic and the product being made), and others.

When you start a discussion around thermoplastics, it is important to be talking to people with a material science background, like the engineers at PlastiCert.

Hopefully, you have created a Product Design Requirements Specification for your product or something like that type of document. Within it, you have documented what types of stresses your product (and its associated plastic) needs to stand up to. Some of those are in no particular order:

Environmental – temperature range in use, temperature range in storage/shipment, temperature transition profile, dust/dirt exposure, humidity, atmospheric pressure

Physical – handheld, tabletop, drop resistance, shock & vibration exposure, fluids exposure i.e., water submersion, water splashing, cleaning agent exposure.

The list can go on and on.

For each of these scenarios there is a thermoplastic resin or composite that will meet the requirements specified. In some cases more than one. Just like electronics, resins & composites can and do go obsolete. Selecting primary and alternate materials can help reduce life cycle exposure.

PlastiCert can help navigate all of the materials options to injection mold your parts. Our engineers come from a material science background. We think having a foundation in material science and applying it to injection molding is a better approach than learning the injection molding process and then seeing what happens with the different thermoplastics. In the prior you are making decisions based on knowledge. In the latter, making decisions based on experiences. We would rather have our foundation based on knowledge.

For our customers, we offer this expertise and input as part of our commitment to them. For prospective customers we can offer a cursory opinion, and look forward to your joining our customer list so that we can offer you the same level of assistance and insight that we do all our longtime customers.  Looking for a molder with materials knowledge, or have a current molder that may be lacking in materials knowledge?   Give us a call.