Bioabsorbable plastics
Plastics that carry out their vital function in the body and dissolve afterwards, e.g., dissolvable stitches
© Tangram Technology
Biocompatibility of plastics
Biocompatibility describes how a material performs when it is exposed to the body or bodily fluids
© Tangram Technology
Colouring of plastics
The fundamentals of colour and colour measurement and how plastics are coloured
© Tangram Technology
Costing of plastics parts
The effect of material cost, tolerances and processing method on the cost of plastics products
© Tangram Technology
Crystallinity and plastics
Crystallinity is probably the fundamental division in plastics, this is a vital concept
© Tangram Technology
Design guides for plastics
A set of the best design formulae and rules for plastics product design, produced by Clive Maier
© Tangram Technology
Design questions for plastics
An ‘aide memoire’ on the questions that need to be asked for every plastics product design
© Tangram Technology
Dielectricity and plastics
The dielectric (insulation) properties of plastics make electricity and modern society possible
© Tangram Technology
Electrospinning of plastics
Need a face mask in the middle of a virus pandemic? Electrospinning is your answer
© Tangram Technology
EMI shielding of plastics
Electromagnetic interference (EMI) minimisation for devices containing plastics
© Tangram Technology
Engineering thermoplastics
Plastics capable of carrying a significant load and also more expensive and less common
© Tangram Technology
Failure of plastics (mechanical)
The modes of mechanical failure in plastics, the factors affecting it and the ductile-brittle transition
© Tangram Technology
Fillers for performance
Fillers in plastics can provide improved performance and not simply reduce costs
© Tangram Technology
Flammability of plastics
The basics of fire and testing for burning behaviour and flammability with plastics
© Tangram Technology
Friction and wear of plastics
The basics of friction and wear (tribology) in plastics and the test methods for these
© Tangram Technology
Heat shrink plastics
The basics of heat shrink products and how they use advanced concepts in plastics processing
© Tangram Technology
High temperature plastics
The service temperature limits for plastics and the tests that define these
© Tangram Technology
Identification of plastics
A simple flow chart of tests to identify most of the common types of plastics
© Tangram Technology
Impact and plastics
Why failure is sometimes ‘brittle’ and sometimes ‘ductile’ and what affects the change
© Tangram Technology
Introduction to extrusion
The basics of the fundamental processing method for plastics, it seems simple but it isn’t!
© Tangram Technology
Introduction to thermoplastics
The basic properties, applications and processing of thermoplastics
© Tangram Technology
Joining plastics
A review of the wide range of joining methods that can be used to join plastcs and other materials together
© Tangram Technology
Labour costs don’t matter
Why labour costs don’t matter any more and what does matter in the modern world
© Tangram Technology
Low temperature plastics
What a low temperature for plastics is and how these affect the mechanical properties
© Tangram Technology
Optical clarity of plastics
I can see clearly now! This is due to my PMMA lenses which rely on the optical clarity of plastics
© Tangram Technology
Periodic table of thermoplastics
On a plane (somewhere over the USA), I dreamt of Mendeleev (true geek – full version)
© Tangram Technology
Periodic table of thermoplastics
The version for people who don’t want to know about properties (reduced version)
© Tangram Technology
Plastics electronics
Plastics are excellent insulators but they can also conduct electricity and be semi-conductors
© Tangram Technology
Plastics timeline
Plastics have a long history of accidental discoveries where great men turned accident into reality
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Polymer chemistry
The chemistry of turning monomers into polymers using step and chain polymerisation
© Tangram Technology
Polymer names
Plastics names may seem confusing but they are very logical and the naming system makes them easy to find
© Tangram Technology
Polymer structures
The chemical structure of a polymer determines the mechanical properties
© Tangram Technology
Pultrusion
A variation on extrusion using glass or other fibres as reinforcement in a polyester or other resin matrix
© Tangram Technology
Risk assessment
Risk assessment is a process of logically assessing the risks in a process to reduce or control these
© Tangram Technology
Shrinkage in plastics
The shrinkage of plastics after processing affects all plastics to varying degrees
© Tangram Technology
SPC essentials
A short ‘cheat sheet’ on the essentials of capability studies and control charts for variables
© Tangram Technology
SPC training course (Part 1)
PowerPoint on control charts for trainers to carry out a 1-hour training session
© Tangram Technology
SPC training course (Part 2)
PowerPoint on analysing control charts for trainers to carry out a 1-hour training session
© Tangram Technology
Static electricity and plastics
Plastic combs can be used to pick up bits of paper but it is more complicated than that
© Tangram Technology
Sterilisation of plastics
The ability of a plastic medical product to be sterilised is a key selection criterion
© Tangram Technology
Strength and stiffness
Strength and stiffness are two of the defining characteristics of all materials
© Tangram Technology
Thermal degradation
Thermal degradation can present an upper limit to the service temperature of plastics
© Tangram Technology
Thermoplastics families
There is order to the apparent chaos of thermoplastics and this is the framework
© Tangram Technology
Weathering of plastics
The weathering of plastics is an important factor in selecting for outdoor applications
© Tangram Technology
Wood-plastic composites
WPCs are a new group of materials blending the properties of wood and plastics
© Tangram Technology
