SPE Library

The SPE Library contains thousands of papers, presentations, journal briefs and recorded webinars from the best minds in the Plastics Industry. Spanning almost two decades, this collection of published research and development work in polymer science and plastics technology is a wealth of knowledge and information for anyone involved in plastics.

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Color and Appearance

Preliminary Investigation Of Oxygen Pressurized Chambers For Accelerated UV Weathering

Henry K. Hardcastle III, June 2022

This paper presents results of a preliminary proof-of-concept investigation into the effect of pressurized oxygen on UV photodegradation rates of a polystyrene standard reference material. Exposures under UVA and UVB revealed significant and important acceleration effects using pressurized oxygen compared with ambient air.

A Breakthrough in Piano Black: Raven 5100 Ultra for Engineering Plastics

Zhenpeng Li | Natalie Harris | Zhaokang Hu, April 2021

A newcarbon black product was developed at Birla Carbon with ultra-high jetness and bluish undertone for high color applications in plastics.The new product was demonstratedwith improved jetness in various polymer systems overthe existing high colorproducts,especiallyachievinga 40% improvement in polyamide 6. Thenew product shows great potentialfor ultra-high jetness plasticsapplications including automotive, household appliances, and consumer electronics.

Characterization of Polycarbonate – Using Thermogravemetric-Rheology Analysis

Jamal Al Sadi, May 2020

The objective of this work is to study the rheological characteristic of the formulations and the processing of plastic production. In this work, introduced two polycarbonate resins were melt blended using two different twin-screw extruders, targeted to investigate the PC blends on the characterization behavior of the grade. Formulation and processing parameters showed an excellent effect on controlling the viscosity. The research aims to identify the underlying science by conducting a systematic study of two stages. First, the polycarbonate 30/70% (Grade-3) was chosen from historical data mining extracted in our project as was showing a high number of adjustment; the material was melt-blended using (Coperion) a Co-rotating twin-screw extruder (SB). The two polycarbonate resins (PC1/PC2) were PC1 content (30wt%-pph) of MFI (25gm/10mins) and PC2 content (70 wt.%-pph) of MFI (6.5gm/10mins). The grades also included four different color pigments and three additives. The second stage, the same material was included the same composition were blended in steps of eleven in a Thermo Haake Mini Lab II twin-screw micro compounder (ML). The steps (%PC1/%PC2) were (100%/0%), (90%/10%), (80%, 20%)… (0%/100%). This resulted in eleven batches. The rheological behavior of the compositions with pigment (WP), without pigments and additive (WOP) at 280 0C have been characterized through experimental measurements. The viscosity measurements of Variation PC blends of (30-70%) and at (0%, 30%, and 100%) were characterized at certain processing of (SB) and (ML). Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was performed under the effect of heating rate, Glass transition temperature (Tg) for PCs blends was measured and related it is affected by the minute variation blends, viscosities, and the various interactions indicated a significant effect on color changes.

Functional Alkane Solvent Systems

Ying-Hua Fu, May 2020

An oligomeric hydrocarbon, Poly(α-olefins) (PAOs), were previously reported as a potential greener solvent to replace conventional alkanes solvent due to its lower toxicity, flammability and volatility. However, its poor solubility toward most organic substrate may limit its applications as solvent. This work demonstrated three strategies to introduce polarity in PAOs and recycle polar additives simultaneously: polymerization of polar monomers onto a PAO anchor, host-and-guest interaction and end-group modification of a PAO anchor, vinyl-terminated polyisobutylene (PIB). In the first method, RAFT polymerization gave a better control of polar polymers onto PIB in order to maintain hydrocarbon solubility over other two polymerizations (hydroboration/O2 initiation, ATRP polymerization). Secondly, the polar polymer, poly(isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) could be successfully brought into and recover back out an alkane phase by treating with chemicals via a hydrogen bond network. The reversible solubilization of PNIPAM were used in recyclable Rhodium catalyzed hydrogenation. Lastly, a hydrophilic moiety (Hexamethylphosphoramide, HMPA) was successfully incorporated onto PIB. The hydrocarbon soluble Lewis base catalyst can be used in allylation of benzaldehyde in PAOs. Other ongoing studies are exploring this molecular recognition based solubilization with other solubilizing agents, other precipitation agents and exploring the use of this chemically responsive solubility both as a tool to prepare new solvent systems and new sorts of recyclable catalysts.

How Poor Selection of Materials, Design, Tooling and Design Errors Affect the Aesthetics of Plastic Parts and What Designers Need to Know About the Science of Color and Appearance - Part 1

Vikram Bhargava, May 2020

Most engineers and designers come from the metal world. Therefore, many of them make assumptions on the predicted performance of plastic properties based on their metals background. Unlike metals, the knowledge of color and appearance is extremely important in the case of plastics. Most plastic parts have dual functions— physical performance and aesthetics. Aesthetics are important since very few of the parts need to be painted or otherwise decorated if designed and manufactured with due diligence. On the other hand, even if we are designing the most aesthetically critical metal components such as exterior automotive parts, we mostly choose the metals and alloys based on the physical properties, weight, and cost. The aesthetics are left to the paint specialist, who will in most cases find a paint system (primer, paint, and application method) that will meet the cost, durability, and cosmetic requirements. In other words, aesthetics and physical properties are quite independent of each other. A vast majority of metal parts meet their aesthetic and environmental requirements just by getting brushed, plated, chromate conversion coated or anodized. Plastic parts not only need to meet the short-term color and appearance requirements, but also need to be resistant to long term color shift and fading. This paper is in two parts. Part 1 - Appearance and Color Factors - Material - Design - Tooling and Processing Part 2 –The fundamentals of Color and Appearance, Specifications, Measurement and Tolerances

Ship Less Air –Flexible Chip Bag Filling Simulation for Sustainability

Jay Yuan, May 2020

The snack flexible packages on the market today, such as potato chips, pita chips, taco chips, tortilla chips, etc., are typically sold by weight, that is, the packages need to fulfill the label claims by weight. However, the size of the packages is determined by the overall volume of the products. The determination of the overall volume of a given product weight is not trivial. The volume is a function of chip broken rate, chip size distribution profile, bag width, bag film gage and material, production line speed (bag/minute), VFFS machine type, etc. Traditionally, the size of the bag is determined by trial & error process through iterative lab testing and production trials. This approach typically results in unnecessary large bags due to the concerns of sealing contamination induced leakage issues in the case of the bag being too small. This leads to significant sustainability issues in shipping and distribution since the shipping trucks are often cubed out by volume (not by weight) for chip/snack packages. The energy is wasted by shipping more air (thus, less chip/snack packages) during distribution. In this work, authors propose a novel approach of bag size determination by using a virtual simulation of the VFFS chip filling process, where the potential influential attributes, such as chip broken rate, chip size distribution profile, bag width, bag film gage and material, production line speed (bag/minute), and VFFS machine type, can be modeled and their impact on the bag size can be quantified. A progressive 3-case simulation is performed and presented in this paper. The results are directionally correct based on the authors’ observation and past experience. Currently, authors are looking for industry partners (brand owners, co-packers and machine manufacturers) to collect production data and validate the analysis model. The intent of this paper is to bring the awareness of applicability of the simulation technology regarding to the bag size determination and chip/snack filling process, and ultimately help the industry in adopting the technology to make the chip bag filling process more sustainable, i.e., to ship less air.