Plastic Part Failure Analysis

Renowned plastics expert Mike Sepe (a.k.a. “The Material Analyst”) teaches students about the relationship between the five factors that determine whether a plastic product is likely to be a success or a failure.

The course emphasizes failure prevention strategies and provides numerous real-world examples and studies.

Course Structure

Plastic Part Failure Analysis begins by covering common part design mistakes that lead to failures, and strategies used to resolve those issues. The course then dives into mold design considerations that may also lead to plastic part failures, including gating and cooling issues.

Plastic material selection criteria are then covered with emphasis on critical material performance testing over time and temperature ranges as compared to single-point data.

Next, injection molding processing factors are discussed and related to part performance issues. Students will also learn the numerous methods used to analyze part failures to definitively determine the root cause of a failure. The course wraps up with examples of the diagnostic strategies and root cause solutions using industry case studies.

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Course Highlights

Five failure factors: part design, mold design, material selection, processing, and product testing and validation
Gate location vs. mechanical performance
Processing influence on part performance
Crystallinity effects on mechanical and chemical performance
Interpreting material data sheets
Long term performance of plastic materials
Application temperature vs. material performance
Accelerated testing
Molecular weight’s role in material properties
Oxidation issues
Use of various Failure Analysis Tools, including DSC, DMA, FT-IR, and many more