Global Polymer Demand Trends

The global polymer industry consumes raw materials worth more than
US$500 billion per year and transforms them into plastics products
valued at more than US$1 trillion
The period since 1983 has seen world demand grow from just over 45
million tonnes to an expected market demand of over 250 million
tonnes for 2014

Plastic Consumption World-Wide

The Plastic Industry

Materials Properties
Comparison

Some basic definitions

Product Design: it is the process of devising a product that fulfills as
completely as possible the total requirements of the user, and at the
same time satisfies needs in terms of cost-effectiveness or ROI (return on
investment).
Design Technology: It is the prediction of performance in its broadest
sense, including all the characteristics and properties of materials that
are essential and relate to the processing of the plastic.
Engineering Properties: correlative properties, together with those that
can be used in design equations
Industrial designer : Low processing cost, Appearance, Topical decorations
Human Engineering
Engineering designer
tool builders
processors
Engineering design
Graphic design
Innovative design

Design Factors Influencing the

Performance
Shape
Materials selection
Design constraints (Shrinkage, Stresses)-Eliminate those!
Precautionary measures-ribs
The solution is the development/adoption of a Check List!
1.
Performance Requirements
Colour, temperature, moisture, ultraviolet exposure, exposure to
fungus, flammability, chemical, electrical resistance, arc resistance,
light transmission, stability or permanency, physical property,
mechanical property, optical property, heat and/or electrical
insulation, resistance to scratching (mar resistance), and special
requirements such as self-lubrication, lightness, hinging property,
spring property, time of exposure, etc. Also important will be meeting
existing government and/or industry regulation.

2. Determine tolerance requirements that are expected in the

performance of the product. Shrinkage characteristics of the selected
plastic should be as small as possible so that tolerances can be
anticipated with a reasonable degree of accuracy.
3. If required, determine the nature of the load to which the product
will be exposed, such as impact, creep, deflection, stresses, bending,
gliding, etc.
4. Color matching may be a factor.
5. Cost of plastic by volume and cost to fabricate.

Materials selection e.g., based on strength

The required data are,
1. Data sheets of the specific grade of material containing the
properties required,
2. Stress-strain curves at the conditions of product application. If
applicable, this would usually indicate the toughness of material by
sizing up the area under the curve. It would also show the
proportional limit, yield point, corresponding elongations, and other
relevant data.
3. Curves showing change of tensile strength, flexural strength, and
modulus with increasing temperatures or other environments.
4. Creep data for periods at 100 and 1000 hours (or more, if available)
covering stress and temperature conditions closely comparable to
those of product application
5. The allowable working stress, based on successful performance at
conditions of product usage.
6. Chemical and/or heat resistance at conditions in service.
7. Others (fatigue, etc.)

Loads
type and duration of the load
the temperature conditions under which the load will be active
the stress created by the load

Load is continuous when it remains constant for a period of 2 to

6 hours, whereas an intermittent load could be considered of up
to two hours duration and is followed by an equal time for stress
recovery

The relationships of
machine capabilities,
plastics processing
variables, and product
performance
machine conditions include the
operating temperature and
pressure, mold and die
temperature, machine output
rate, and so on.
Processing variables are more specific, such as the melt condition
in the mold or die, the flow rate vs. temperature
It is the processing variables, properly defined and measured, not
necessarily the machine setting, that can be correlated with
product performance.

Advantage and Disadvantage of Plastics

products fail not because of its disadvantage(s). They failed because
someone did not perform in the proper manner
Plastics can be classified into various families
Cost of product= cost of plastic+ processing cost!
Low stiffness particularly at high temperature
Less density, strength through shape, good thermal insulation, high
degree of mechanical dampening, high resistance to corrosion and
chemical attack, and exceptional electric resistance
Viscoelasticity: The behavior of most plastics is much more dependent
on the time of application of the load, the past history of loading, the
current and past temperature cycles, and the environmental conditions