Plastic Materials + Mold Design Combo

Plastic Materials + Mold Design Combo combines two of our Development Courses. These courses run back-to-back over the course of four days in-person or online, giving students the opportunity to save time and money.

Plastic Materials

Understanding plastic materials is critical to nearly every job function within the injection molding industry.

This course is designed to improve the students understanding of polymer structures, the impact of molecular weight, rheology, and crystallinity on material properties. Attendees will also learn critical thought processes necessary to discern between the various root causes of shrink and warp.

Course Structure

The Plastic Materials course is taught over two consecutive eight-hour days in-person or online. The course begins with a discussion on creating polymers from monomers, followed by the importance of molecular weight to your part’s performance and processing characteristics.

Next the topics of drying, additives, viscosity, and rheology (study of plastic flow) are covered. Subsequently, participants will learn what makes some polymers amorphous and others semi-crystalline, and how those classifications affect material properties, processing, mold design, and part design.

Finally, the course will take a deep dive into understanding and recognizing volumetric vs. orientation-induced shrinkage, and how each causes plastic parts to warp.

Attendees will take away practical strategies for reducing warp by evaluating options in material selection, mold design, processing, and part design.

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Course Highlights

Polymerization methods
Understanding Tg and Tm
Differences between amorphous and semi-crystalline materials
Molecular weight and its effect on material properties
Drying nuances and proper measurement of moisture
Crystallinity and its effect on material properties
Plastic flow characteristics
Viscosity’s role on the process and part quality
Videos of plastic flowing through molds
Various industry myths uncovered
Melt Flow Index versus in-mold viscosity
Classifications of plastic shrinkage
Root causes of warp
Strategies for predicting warp
Breakout session for troubleshooting warped parts

What’s Included

All course materials, including:
- Coursebook
- Calculators, pens, pencils, etc…
Daily breakfast and lunch
Certificate of Attendance

Mold Design

Understanding the foundational knowledge of the five key systems and how each one affects the final part quality is imperative in the injection molding process.

This course is designed to give students an in-depth look at the second discipline of the injection molding industry. Attendees will leave with a working knowledge of mold design and manufacturing. Through a mix of lecture and hands-on labs, attendees will break a mold down into its five systems and provide discussions on design strategies for each.

Course Structure

Mold Design is taught over two consecutive eight-hour days in-person or online. The course begins by identifying the five key systems of a mold: melt delivery, cooling, structural, venting, and ejection. Discussions follow featuring the foundations of each system and how they all affect the formation of the plastic part and the final part quality.

Participants will take part in three different labs: a mold tear down and assembly, mold print reading, and a cooling cart demonstration.

Attendees will gain the ability to evaluate mold design based on the five systems and recognize design features that could be improved.

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