processing tips

Molds & Tooling

Gating Revisited

An overlooked factor in injection molding has outsize influence on the process and part quality.

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best practices

What Output Can I Expect?

Processors ask screw designers this question a lot. But neither output nor melt temperature can be predicted without details on the polymer and head pressure.

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processing tips

Unraveling the Mysteries of Melt Temperature

Infrared technology can provide consistent and accurate readings of melt temperature. Here’s how to use it.

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Film Extrusion

Extruding Very High-Flow Polymers

Screw designs not suited to process lower-viscosity materials will result in poor melt quality and lower outputs.

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best practices

Faster Is Not Always Better—Optimize Your Molding Cycle

It is possible for machines to run too fast, so find the sweet spot where maximum output overlaps with good parts.

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best practices

Solving Issues with Gloss

Your problem may be related to tooling, material, processing, or combinations thereof. Here’s how to find the root cause.

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Water Droplets in the Feed Throat

And other reasons you must dry hygroscopic resins.

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Additives

Avoid These Three Mistakes to Get the Most from Color

Here are the key misconceptions and common practices that keep processors from reaching the heights of coloring proficiency. Find out if you’re stumbling into these pitfalls, and learn how and why you should swerve around them

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Additives

Five Effective Ways to Control Color

A 50-year veteran in color-concentrate production and use shares practices to help you make better color decisions and generate less scrap. To specify color correctly and communicate your specs to your color supplier requires understanding of the “Five U’s.”

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best practices

What You Should Know About Molding Wood-Plastic Composites

Originally targeted mainly for extrusion, new options for wood-plastic composites have been optimized to open doors for injection molding applications.

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Process Cooling