Design clinic offers expert advice on engineering polymers

Next month's first ever Plastics Design & Moulding Show at the Telford International Centre (April 12-14) promises to be a huge success, with plenty of exhibitors attending and a packed programme full of useful seminars and presentations, all aimed at product designers, design engineers and anyone involved in plastics design and moulding activities. Engineering polymer giant DuPont will be hosting its own 'material and design clinic' at the show. The company's own material and design engineers will be on hand to offer expert advice on visitors' product development issues. Mark Hazel, design specialist at DuPont Engineering Polymers, told Eureka: "We believe that the most critical stage of product development is often the design concept and initial evaluation of using the right material. What we will offer at PDM is the opportunity for those who are either using, or considering, polymers for their product, to speak to us first hand and to hopefully master that stage." He added that special polymers for replacing metals would be one area of focus, along with the protection of components exposed to extreme environments and post-moulding solutions, including decoration techniques and paintable resins. Other companies supporting the show include the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, who offers specialised materials information and advice services to businesses. JGP Perrite will be showcasing its new Ronafin ABS VE family which includes a high impact extrusion grade, glass-filled and FR products. Additions to the firm's Percom PP range include talc and glass-filled VO rated products and scratch-resistant grades developed for the automotive industry. And, for companies looking to source equipment for micro or mini-moulding projects, MCP Tooling Technologies will be demonstrating its range of compact injection moulding and rapid prototyping equipment at the show. The company's new Compact Electric MiniMolder, the 12/90HSE, generated a very positive reaction at the K show last year in Germany. The machine is faster, more accurate and more responsive than the firm's existing models and also offers excellent process reliability from its servo electric drive and cost benefits from reduced wastage and lower power consumption. TSM Control Systems will be showing its new TSM50 Gravimetric batch blender which, the firm claims, is ideal for on-line/off-line blending applications in extrusion and moulding. The blender uses the company's patented 'Micradose' valves combined with patented reverse-flight auger mixing technology, enabling very accurate blend ratios of better than 0.1%. A range of process chillers and temperature control products will be on show at Tricool's stand and Kaye Dee Marking Solutions will launch its new mid-size, pneumatic/electric drive TPX201 pad printer, which, the company says, has simple repeat machine programme capability for easy operator set up and changeover, comes with a touch screen control panel and has been designed to accept all standard accessories such as rotary tables, pad shuttles and indexing conveyors. Rapra Technology's year-on-year growth in plastics product design is running at around 35%. The polymer research and technology specialist will be demonstrating its expertise in areas such as FEA; materials selection; designing with plastics; injection moulding simulation; and Six Sigma tolerance stack analysis. Rapra's work for regional programmes has seen more than 100 client interventions processed in the West Midlands alone, a good number of these were involved with new product design and development. And, if it's engineering plastic compounds that you are looking for, based on any polymer in combination with reinforcements such as glass/carbon/aramid-fibres and additives, Witcom Engineering Plastics will be able to help you. The polymer supplier has recently invested in new facilities and equipment, which are now operational. Other interesting products at the show include a low friction, dry lubricant surface treatment coating from WS2. The company's coating has been used on ejector pins to stop them seizing and on intricate mould parts, to prevent them from sticking. The treatment was originally developed for NASA's deep space probes but has potential in machine tool, aerospace, automotive, cryogenics, nuclear, die casting, cutting tools, gearboxes, clean room and high vacuum applications. Also, a special online competition, 'Plastics Classics', has been launched at www.pdmevent.com to find out what the greatest plastics product of all time is. The competition is sponsored by Arrk and Gabriel Chemie. Use your chance to vote for your favourite by looking at the current shortlisted products, which all represent breakthroughs in the use of plastics, including designs that have changed the way we live and become integral parts of our everyday lives.