Course content

Plastics Materials
 Classification (thermosets, thermoplastics, semi-crystalline, amorphous), major
modifications (fibre reinforced, impact modified, etc.).
 Properties, characteristics advantages and disadvantages of common plastics.
Common Manufacturing Problems
 Extrusion
 Injection moulding
 Blow moulding
 Thermo-forming
 Roto-moulding
Materials Selection
 Navigating though the many plastics types and thousands of grades available
 How to understand and use data sheets
 Advice on drawing up the specification including the hidden requirements, often
overlooked, which can result in failure.
Design for Performance
 Structural performance of plastics (creep, stress relaxation, fatigue, effect of temperature,
ageing, chemical attack), allowable design stresses and strains.
 Differences betwen short and long term mechanical properties and their impact on
application.
 Introduction of methodologies to use long term materials data to improve confidence in
the performance of a design and minimise the risk of product failure in the long term.
Failure Diagnosis
 Common causes of failure, brittle fracture (stress cracking, embrittlement, effect of
notches, uv degradation, hydrolysis), impact, fatigue

Who will benefit?

Those new to the plastics industry or moving to a new position who need to gain a better
understanding of design and development of new products. This course will also benefit anyone
responsible for the plastics supply chain and will equip them with the know-how and
confidence necessary in order to work efficiently and effectively and to manage change.
 Product Designers
 Product Development Engineers
 Technical services
 Quality assurance
 Component procurement
  Others involved in the design or development of new products and who need an
understanding of the engineering capabilities of plastics
 Little or no knowledge of plastics materials and processes is assumed.

Presenter information
This course is presented by:
 Dr Andrew Hulme, AMIMMM, Consultant - Smithers
 Dr Paul Shipton, Director of Consultancy - Smithers
 Dr Julien Loste. Consultant - Smithers
Read more about our presenters by clicking on their expert profiles.

What our delegates say

"Extremely informative, a lot of great knowledge in two days, I would recommend this course to
all plastic component design engineers"
Thomas Morrice (NCR)

"Very well prepared and communicated"

Stephen Joyce (Freudenberg Sealing Technologies)

Questions and queries