Handbook of Plastics Testing and Failure Analysis

Vishu Shah

• Editorial: Wiley
• Año: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781118943632
• Edición: 4
• Categoría: Technology & Engineering
• Categoría: Chemical & Biochemical Engineering

Written in easy-to-read and -use format, this book provides a strong training resource and reference for product designers using plastics in their products – helping them identify, quantify, and confirm whether problems are related to product design or process. • Updates coverage of data analysis techniques and examples and expands coverage of failure analysis, key because of increased litigation related to product liability
• Overviews plastic testing methods and the framework to investigate causes of plastic part failure
• Provides a strong training resource and reference for product designers using plastics in their products
• Features a video tour of a plastics testing labroatory on a companion website and has a separate manual of problems and solutions that are appropriate for college professors using the book as a class textbook

1
BASIC CONCEPTS AND ADVANCEMENT IN TESTING TECHNOLOGY

1.1. BASIC CONCEPTS

Not too long ago, the concept of testing was merely an afterthought of the procurement process. Now, however, with the advent of science and technology, the concept of testing is an integral part of research and development, product design, and manufacturing. The question that is often asked is, “why test?” The answer is simple. Times have changed. How we do things today is different. The emphasis is on automation, high production, and cost reduction. There is a growing demand for intricately shaped, high‐tolerance parts. Consumer awareness, a subject ignored by the manufacturers once upon a time, is now a major area of concern. Along with these requirements, our priorities have also changed. When designing a machine or a product, the priority in most cases is safety and health. Manufacturers and suppliers are now required to meet a variety of standards and specifications. Relying merely on experience and quality of workmanship is simply not enough. The following are some of the major reasons for testing:

1. To prove design concepts
2. To provide a basis for reliability
3. Safety
4. Protection against product liability lawsuits
5. Quality control
6. To meet standards and specifications
7. To verify the manufacturing process
8. To evaluate competitors’ products
9. To establish a history for new materials

In the last three decades, just about every manufacturer has turned to plastics to achieve cost reduction, automation, and high yield. The lack of history, along with the explosive growth and diversity of polymeric materials, has forced the plastics industry into placing extra emphasis on testing and on developing a wide variety of testing procedures. Through the painstaking efforts of various standards organizations, material suppliers, and mainly the numerous committees of the ASTM International (ASTM), over 10,000 different test methods have...