CHAPTER 46

DESIGN FOR MANUFACTURE AND

ASSEMBLY WITH PLASTICS
James A. Harvey
Under the Bridge Consulting
Corvallis, Oregon

INTRODUCTION

1423

PLASTIC MATERIALS
SELECTION
2.1 Polymers
2.2 Plastics
2.3 Reinforced Plastics

1424
1424
1429
1430

3
4

PLASTIC MATERIALS
SELECTION TECHNIQUES

1430

PLASTIC PART DESIGN

1431

PLASTIC PART MATERIAL

SELECTION STRATEGY

1431

CONCLUSION

1435

SUGGESTED READING LIST

1435

REFERENCES

1436

PLASTIC JOINING TECHNIQUES 1431

INTRODUCTION

To write a chapter in a book such as the Handbook of Materials Selection you

need a good introduction or an opening that sets the pace of the information one
wishes to present.
From the title we will only be dealing with plastic materials used for designed
parts; however, some of the hints, tips, criteria, and suggestions may apply to
other materials such as metals and ceramics.
I would have liked to start this chapter with an excellent illustration of a
plastic part design. But the best I could come up with is a metal example and
hopefully throughout this chapter I will refer to some plastic designs.
The example I would have liked to use is the long swords used by King
Arthur and the Round Table. From a distance one can hardly imagine the breadth
of one who uses such a long sword in battle and who swings this enormous
sword at an enemy to chop off various body parts. The sword was hollow and
partially filled with mercury. The sword was relatively easy to manipulate in the
so-called rest or nonbattle position. When the knight raised the sword, the mercury being a liquid flowed to the handle. As the sword was swung, the mercury
flowed to the tip of the sword, thus giving it extra force at the tip. In my opinion,
this is a brilliant example of materials selection in the development of a product.
Imagine having to lift the sword if it were solid.

Handbook of Materials Selection, Edited by Myer Kutz

ISBN 0-471-35924-6 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York
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DESIGN FOR MANUFACTURE AND ASSEMBLY WITH PLASTICS

This chapter will consider three main topics: plastic materials selection, plastics joining techniques, and plastic part design. The major focus will be on
plastic materials selection. The information in this chapter will be based upon
both the lectures I gave and the information I received in short courses taught
to practicing engineers and scientists that were involved in all the aspects of
commercial plastics part designs and in graduate school courses to budding new
materials scientists and engineers.
If you search the open literature for material selection, you will find articles
with titles similar to The Science of Material Selection or the Art of Material
Selection. Hopefully this chapter will eliminate some of the mystery or confusion of material selection.
2
2.1

PLASTIC MATERIALS SELECTION

Polymers

In the selection of plastic materials for a commercial part design the first step
is as in all technology development; that is, you must learn the basic definitions,
concepts, and principles of that technology. Following will be a series of terms
this writer thinks are significant for assisting one in the selection of materials
for plastics part design: thermoplastics, thermosets, elastomers, polymerization
reactions, characterization techniques, molecular weights and distribution, molecular structure of polymers, five viscoelastic regions of polymers, Carothers
equation, and additives.
The starting point is with the definition of a polymer. A polymer is a compound consisting of repeating structural units. A simple example of a repeat unit
is theCH2 chemical moiety. Two repeated units are equivalent to the organic
compound ethane. Ethane is a gas at room temperature with a total molecular
weight of 30 atomic mass units (amu). A polymer family with hundreds of
thousands of these repeatCH2 units represents the polyethylenes with molecular weights in the millions.
A thermoplastic polymer is a polymer that consists of linear polymer chains.
Whenever you use a thermoplastic, it is usually in its final molecular weight
form. The major thermal event that one does is to process it into the final part
form. There are three types of thermoplastics: amorphous, semicrystalline, and
liquid-crystal polymers.
A thermosetting resin is one that contains a highly cross-linked polymer network when processed. One has to cook or cure the resin before it can be
formed into its final shape.
An elastomer is a very lightly cross-linked polymer with the ability to be
extend to a high elongation and snap back to its original dimensions when the
forces has been removed.
Polymerization reactions play a usual role in the process of material selection.
From the name of the polymer and its polymerization reaction, one can make a
reasonable first attempt to select a plastic material. But the reader must be cautious with statements as the last one. These are general rules. Let us look at
polyethylene as one example. Polyethylene is named from the monomer from
which it is made. These monomers are polymerized through an addition reaction.
Being formed through an addition reaction, the resultant polymers are water

PLASTIC MATERIALS SELECTION

1425

hating, or hydrophobic. For the first approximation this would be a good material
to be put into a waterlike environment.
Now let us look at another polymer, polyethylene terephthalate. It is formed
from the reaction of ethylene glycol with terephthalic acid or terephthalic acid
ester. During the reaction in order for the polymer, polyethylene terephthalate,
to build up molecular weights, it loses either water or alcohol as a by-product.
The polymers formed from the type of reaction of adding two or more coreactants under conditions of time, temperature, and other reaction conditions
with the formation of a by-product such as water and alcohol are said to be
formed by condensation and are named by the new chemical functional group
formed. As a general rule of thumb these polymers are water loving, or hydrophilic.
Polyesters as mentioned are formed from the reaction of organic acids with
organic alcohols with water as a by-product. Nylons are formed from the condensation reaction of organic acids with organic amines with water as a byreaction. Polyimides are formed from the condensation reaction between acid
anhydrides and organic amines with the release of water.
Knowledge of organic chemistry plays a very important role in the selection
of a polymer for a plastic part. This writer is only posing general rules to the
reader, and to the first approximation one can made very reasonable selection
in the early stages of plastic part design using these general observations.
For example, if you were assigned to design a plastic part that had to exist
in a water environment, your first choice could be an addition polymer such
as polyethylene rather than a condensation polymer such as polyethylene
terephthalate. The polyethylene is water hating, or hydrophobic. Thus it should
not be affected by water.
This writer can already imagine the but what about this incident remarks.
Yes, water bottles are made from polyesters. The bottles are dated for lifetime
and the companies that fill these bottles with their clear spring mountain fresh
water want you to see how pretty their water is. However, over time the polyester
bottles will absorbed water. Water (sport) bottles that are used over and over
and filled by the consumer are made from the addition polymers. They are also
opaque. Transparency in these sport water plastic containers is not important.
This polymer character of being transparent or opaque will be discussed later.
Molecular weight and molecular weight distributions are other important parameters for a polymer. The polymerization reaction is complicated. The polymerization reaction does not make a simple molecule. The reaction yields many
different sizes of polymer chains. The molecular mass of each chain refers to
its molecular weight. And as mentioned, since many different sizes of polymer
chains are formed, there will be a distribution of the molecular weights.
Knowing the molecular weight and its distribution aids in the selection of
polymers for a plastics part and in the lifetime of plastic part. The general
techniques that can be used to determine molecular weights of polymers are
achieved through viscosity measurements either in solution or using solid samples. Solution viscosities consist of timing the flow of polymer solutions of
known concentrations through a fixed volume. Melt index, or melt flow index,
is a standardized test in which the solid is used instead of a solution. A given
amount of the polymer is heated to a certain temperature and a known force is

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DESIGN FOR MANUFACTURE AND ASSEMBLY WITH PLASTICS

applied to the molten polymer and its flow is timed. If all things are equal, the
lower molecular polymer will flow through the given volume, the fastest thus
revealing a low number. For the members of a given polymer family this is a
reasonable way to distinguish between low- and high-molecular weight versions.
The final technique is gel permeation (size exclusion) chromatography. The polymer is dissolved in a solvent. The solution is then passed through a series of
tubes (columns) packed with different porous particles. As the solution passes
through, the polymer chains with the highest molecular weights pass through
the fastest. A detector measures the polymer chains as they exit the instrument.
Thus one ends up with a chromatograph, which shows the distribution of the
different molecular weights of the polymer chain in the sample. Solution viscosities are usually used by the polymer manufacturer. Melt flow index is used
as an initial tool for material selection and as a tool to help determine the
molding process. Gel permeation (size exclusion) chromatography was in the
past treated as a research tool, but lately it has gained a great deal of popularity
as a quality control technique.
Another important parameter for the different polymers refers to their thermal
behavior. A typical thermoplastic is a solid at ambient temperatures. As the
material is heated it starts to soften, then it flows and in some cases it melts.
Then when it is cools down it solidifies. And depending of the container (mold)
in which this is done, the thermoplastic will retain the shape of that mold. This
process should be repeatable. Thus thermoplastics are recyclable. Another thermal property of the thermoplastics is creep. This property refers to the ability
of the material to flow under a load as a function of temperature.
Thermosetting resin systems are quite different. When one processes a thermoplastic into a particular plastic part, its molecular weight has already been
established at the manufacturer. With thermosetting resin systems, one starts with
low-molecular-weight reactants and to process these ingredients you cure or
cook the reactants into the desired final shape. If the reactants have been fully
reacted, one ends up with one giant molecule. To process a thermosetting resin
system into a part, the thermal events consist of heating the ingredients so they
start to soften; then some of the ingredients melt. As the temperature is raised,
the system is totally liquid. As the temperature continues to rise, the onset of
curing (cross-linking) occurs. As the reaction proceeds, the viscosity increases
and the part hardens. At the end of the curing reaction the part is solid; then it
is cooled to ambient temperatures. Once formed the part cannot be reheated to
change its shape. If a thermosetting resin system has been properly cured, it
should not be affected by temperature or solvents.
The thermal behavior of elastomers is somewhat different that the thermoplastics and thermosets. As a first approximation it behaves more like a thermoplastic. We all know that car tires soften in the hot months of summer. And
most elastomers will swell when placed into a solvent.
Thermal analyses are a set of techniques used to characterize the thermal
behavior of the different type of polymers. In addition to informing one as to
thermal characteristics of the polymers, they can assist in determining a processing cycle. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) yields the thermal events
of a sample, i.e., melting points, onsets, maximums, and offsets of curing, decomposition temperatures, crystallization temperatures, and glass transition temperatures (this term will be discussed later). Thermogravimetric analyses (TGA)

PLASTIC MATERIALS SELECTION

1427

give the changes in mass of a sample as a function of temperature and environment. Thermal mechanical analyses (TMA) reveal the changes in volume of a
sample (warpage and shrinkage) and glass transition temperatures. Dynamic mechanical analyses (DMA) provide the modulus and changes in modulus and glass
transition temperature as a function of temperature, time, and oscillation (dynamic load).
The internal structure of the polymer will determine if it is transparent or
opaque. This internal structure is referred to as polymer morphology. Thermoplastic polymers can be subdivided into amorphous, semicrystalline, crystalline,
and liquid-crystal polymers. This classification is only reserved for thermoplastics. Morphology refers to how the polymer chains are arranged, in an ordered
or disordered manner. Amorphous refers to total disorder. Crystalline refers to
total ordered. Semicrystalline is a combination of disorder with domains of order
within its structure. The liquid-crystal polymers refer to a special class of thermoplastics that retains its order in the melt. Based upon chemical principles as
a material goes from the solid state to the liquid state, it goes from a state of
order to one of disorder. The liquid-crystal polymers lack this transition, and
this unique characteristic has an enhanced effect of the processing of these materials.
Let us now examine the internal structure of amorphous, semicrystalline, and
crystalline thermoplastics. We have the two extremestotally disordered in the
arrangement of the polymer chains (amorphous) and at the other end total order
(crystalline). Another way of looking at the arrangements involved is to view
the polymer chains as spaghetti. We have cooked spaghetti (disordered) at one
extreme and uncooked (ordered) spaghetti at the other extreme. Except for the
liquid-crystalline polymers, most thermoplastic polymers are either amorphous
or semicrystalline (a combination of polymer chains in ordered crystalline domains). Due to the presence of the crystalline domains, the semicrystalline polymers have a melting point, and light will be scattered as it hits these domains,
thus giving the material an opaque appearance. Thus amorphous polymers do
not have a melting point and are transparent.
The next important polymer definition or concept involves the five viscoelastic
regions of polymers. If we plot the modulus of a thermoplastic material as a
function of temperature, we obtain a graph such as the one shown in Fig. 1.
Region 1 represents the behavior of the material at low temperatures. It is in
its glassy state. The mobility of the polymer chains has slowed down. The material is hard. As the material is heated, it comes through a transition to region
3. This region is known as the rubbery region and has lost in the range of three
orders of magnitude of strength. As the sample is heated to an even higher
temperature, the polymer (region 4) starts to decompose and finally at region 5
decomposition occurs with lose of strength.
A semicrystalline thermoplastic has the appearance of the dashed line in Fig.
1. The drop in modulus from the glassy region to the rubbery region is not as
drastic with the semicrystalline polymers (region 2) as it is with the amorphous
polymers. As the semicrystalline thermoplastic reaches its melting point, its
strength falls off greatly and, as you would expect, goes from a solid to a liquid.
The transition between the glassy region of a polymer to its rubbery region
is known as its glass transition and the temperature that it occurs at is its glass
transition temperature.

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DESIGN FOR MANUFACTURE AND ASSEMBLY WITH PLASTICS

Fig. 1 Five viscoelastic regions of a linear amorphous polymer. The dashed line represents the
behavior of a semicrystalline polymer (Ref. 2).

The glass transition is defined as the reversible change in an amorphous

material or in amorphous regions of a partially crystalline material, from (or to)
a viscous or rubbery condition to (or from) a hard and relatively brittle one. 1
Some individuals use the term glass transition temperature while discussing
cured thermosetting resin systems. To this writer, if the thermosetting resin is
completely cured, it should not have a glass transition temperature. If it is completely cured as you heat the material over a temperature range, it should be
unaffected by temperature until it reaches its decomposition temperature. If you
perform an analysis and observe a glass transition temperature, it is either because the thermoset is not being completely cured or because of the thermoplastic nature of the cross-linked network. If you perform a thermal technique
to determine glass transition temperature, cool the sample to ambient temperature and repeat the analysis on the same sample. If the material is not fully
cured, the repeat run should indicate a higher apparent glass transition temperature and a lower drop in modulus.
Figure 2 shows a comparison between the glass transition temperature and
the melting point of a thermoplastic polymer. The key feature of the graph shows

Fig. 2 Comparison of the glass transition temperature (a) to a melting point (b) of a thermoplastic polymer (Ref. 2).

PLASTIC MATERIALS SELECTION

1429

that as the material reaches its melting point that is a discontinuous in its volume.
In the case of the glass transition temperature its rate of volume changes with
temperature. As one passes through the polymers glass transition, its thermodynamic properties change. Thus, in selection of a thermoplastic for a plastic
part, it is always best to use the material above its glass transition temperature.
There are exceptions to this rule. For example, polymers like the polyethylenes
are used in their rubbery region due to their subambient temperature glass transition temperatures.
This writer is including the Carothers equation in the discussion of the selection of polymeric materials for plastic molded parts. The equation is relatively
simple, but the impact of it on a thermoplastic polymerization is very critical:
Xn

2
2 pr

The term Xn refers to number-average degree of polymerization, p is the extent

of reaction, and r either indicates the ratio of reactants or purity of the reactants.
Basically, what this equation tells us is that one needs a high conversion of pure
reactants and the correct stiochiometry to obtain the proper molecular weight.
Small changes in purity, incomplete reaction, and incorrect ratio of reactants can
have a drastic effect on the moldability of your part or its performance behavior.
Thus consistency and repeatability of the molded part you shipped to your customer is highly dependent upon the consistency and repeatability of the materials
from your polymer manufacturer, your compounder, and your molder.
2.2

Plastics

Plastics are simply polymers with additives. These additives perform many different functions. Some refer to these materials as foo-foo dust. The addition
of additives to the polymer enhances the process of the making of the part, the
product performance and lifetime of the part, and the appearance of the part. A
partial list of these additives include antioxidants, light stabilizers, acid scavengers, lubricants, polymer processing aids, antiblocking additives, slip additives, antifogging additives, antistatic additives, antimicrobials, flame retardants,
chemical blowing agents, cross-linking and controlled degradation of polyolefins, colorants, fluorescent whitening agents, fillers, nucleating agents, and plasticizers.
From the name of the additive one can figure out the function of the additive.
There are exceptions to this, and in most cases we do not know what the additive
package compounders put into a polymer. This information is treated as confidential. Thus one must be careful when one switches material from one supplier
to another. Even though the starting polymer may be same, different additive
packages will affect the performance behavior and lifetime of the designed plastic part. Thus once a material has been selected, this writer highly recommends
that one completely characterize that material in case your supplier changes the
material or its consistency changes or you are involved in determining product
failures. As a consultant, this writer has been involved in several failure analyses
projects and the worst thing that happens is that there is no baseline material
data. These problems are difficult and expensive to solve without baseline data.

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DESIGN FOR MANUFACTURE AND ASSEMBLY WITH PLASTICS

Two types of additives will be defined in this section due to their importance.
These are fillers and plasticizers. Fillers are added to polymers to affect the color
and smoothness properties of the final molded part, to assist in the molding of
the part by changing the flow behavior of the plastics, and lastly to reduce the
cost of the molded part.
Plasticizers are unique materials. They are added to a polymer to reduce the
hardness of the polymer or make it more flexible. A good example of a plasticizer is the smell we experience when we purchase a new car. The new car
smells comes from the plasticizer and the seats are nice and soft. Over time the
smell is gone, the seat becomes hard and brittle, and we have to clean the inside
of the windshield. The reverse of this can occur with hydrophilic polymers in
the presence of water. The polymer absorbs water, its glass transition temperature
drops, and the material becomes softer. In the case of hydrophobic thermoplastic
materials oils will have a similar effect.
Thus, it should be noted that these plastic systems are dynamic and they are
in a constant change. If you design a plastic part for a lifetime of 5 years, it
would be nice to test the part for 5 years under the operating conditions of
the plastic part assembly. However, based upon time to market that is not an
option. One can retain samples of production.
2.3

Reinforced Plastics

Reinforced plastics are plastics containing reinforcing elements within a plastic

matrix. There are many different types and forms of reinforced plastics. And
whenever one refers to reinforced plastics, they are referring to thermoplastics
reinforced with either long or short discontinued (chopped) fibers, and the parts
are manufactured by injection molding. Reinforced plastics are in essence forms
of composite materials. A composite is a heterogeneous mixture of matrix resin,
reinforcement, and other components that act in concert with each other. The
matrix resin protects the reinforcement from itself due to wear and it glues
the reinforcement in place. The reinforcement provides strength to the plastic
part and enhances the properties of the matrix resin. Also the reinforcement
helps dissipate the energy throughout the structure when impacted.
Properties of reinforced plastics should be obtained from the supplier. There
are many variations of reinforcement forms and sizes.
3

PLASTIC MATERIALS SELECTION TECHNIQUES

It is difficult to discuss how one starts to select plastic materials for a particular
design. At first the tenacity is to hope that you doing a second version of a
previous designed plastic part. This is wishful thinking. Second one hope that
one is exposed to an individual in their organization whom has experience in
plastic material selection. Or, if you are really fortunate, you have a materials
engineer in your organization that knows the material science of plastic materials.
This writers first experience in selecting materials was relatively simple. The
criteria were basically set by the equipment available for the project. Then criteria such as the temperature, chemical requirements, and the number of parts
needed are used to pick the material. An eight-step criteria was then developed.
The criteria were functionality, chemical resistance, external processing (your
supplier), internal processing, lifetime, design margins, cost, and greenness of

PLASTIC PART MATERIAL SELECTION STRATEGY

1431

the part. As the demands on the materials increased, subcriteria to the criteria
were developed and added to the list and is represented by Table 1.
The above scheme works reasonably well. But it does not include the most
important factor in a material selection. That factor can be represented with such
words or phrases like timing, schedule, and time to market.
4

PLASTIC JOINING TECHNIQUES

Table 2 contains a list of most of the different techniques used to join two plastic
parts together. Each technique has its own unique advantages and limitations.
This writer has more experience with adhesive bonding. In the selection of
adhesives one can follow most of the criteria and subcriteria as listed in
Table 1.
In the adhesive bonding of plastic parts together there are several other issues
that you should take into account. One refers to the failure mechanism that you
want to strive for in your design. There are three failure mechanisms for an
adhesive joint. They are adhesive, cohesive, and substrate failures. An adhesive
failure is failure of adhesive joint at the interface. Cohesive failure is failure
within the adhesive and finally substrate failure of the plastics. This is failure
within the plastic parts being joined together. Failure within the plastic parts
would be the best case. And with surface preparation techniques, especially with
treatments involving silane coupling agents, this failure mode is not unrealistic
as observed by this writer.
The golden rule of design using adhesives was (and is) to design to at least
cohesive failure.
One chemical principle that you should take into account in the selection of
adhesives is like dissolves like. It translates into the more similar the adhesive
is to the plastic you are trying to bond together the stronger the bond.
5

PLASTIC PART DESIGN

In this section, I have to be honest and admit that I do not know how to design
plastic parts. I cannot draw a straight line with a ruler. I rely on the suppliers
design guides and the two design books (Malloy and Dym) listed in the Suggested Readings. And I am also fortunate to have a good network that is only
a phone call away. However, I do perform failure analyses on molded plastic
parts, and there are tricks I employed during an analysis. One technique is to
perform an ashing of a plastic molded part. One can obtain information as to
the flow of the plastic and fiber orientation if the part is reinforced.
One can also section the molded reinforced plastics into smaller specimens
that can be analyzed by TGA to determine percent resin and reinforcement
contents; this in turn will show you the consistency of the molded part.
Sometimes if the plastic has a long distance to flow in a mold, the polymer
chains can separate. The smaller polymer chains travel faster than the larger
chains. To verify the consistency of the polymer molecular weight throughout
the molded plastic part, one can section the part and subject the specimen to gel
permeation chromatography.
6

PLASTIC PART MATERIAL SELECTION STRATEGY

After reading the first part of this chapter one may be either totally confused or
have a headache. This writer understands perfectly. Materials selection is not an

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DESIGN FOR MANUFACTURE AND ASSEMBLY WITH PLASTICS

Table 1 Eight-Step Criteria for the Selection of Materials (Thermoplastics, Thermosets,

Elastomers, and Adhesives)
Main Criteria

Functionality

Subcriteria

Purpose of part
Type and magnitude of normal service stresses
Loading pattern and time under load
Fatigue resistance
Overloads and abuse
Impact resistance
Normal range of operating temperatures
Maximum and minimum service temperatures
Electrical resistivity
Dielectric loss
Antistatic properties
Tracking resistance
Flammability
Surface finish
Color matching and color retention
Tolerances and dimensional stability
Weight factors
Space limitations
Allowable deflections
Materials acceptance
Compatibility with chemicals
Solvent and vapor attack
Reactions with acids, bases, water, etc.
Water absorption effects
Ultraviolet light exposure and weathering
Oxidation
Chemical erosion and / or corrosion (electrochemical effects)
Attack by fungi, bacteria, or insects
Leaching of additives from the part material into its environment
Absorption of components into the part from its environment
Permeability of vapors and gases
Normal range of operating temperatures
Maximum and minimum service temperatures
Environmental concerns
Scrap rates
Recyclability
Chloro- and fluoro- polymers
Lifetime
Product lifetime
Reliability
Product specifications
Acceptance codes and specifications
Margin
Safety design factors
Internal process
Normal range of processing temperatures
Maximum and minimum processing temperatures
Choice of processes
Method of assembly
Secondary processes
Finishing and decorating
Quality control and inspection
Contamination
External process (supplier Normal range of processing temperatures
of parts)
Maximum and minimum processing temperatures
Choice of processes
Method of assembly
Secondary processes
Finishing and decorating
Quality control and inspection
Contamination
Timing for part design changes
Timing for prototype molds
Timing for production molds

PLASTIC PART MATERIAL SELECTION STRATEGY

Table 1

1433

(Continued )

Main Criteria

Subcriteria

External process (supplier Technical support from supplier

of parts) (Continued )
Contamination
Cost
Materials costs
Materials availability
Alternative material choices
Suppliers availability
Part costs
Cost of capital plant: molds and processing machines
Operation costs of component including manufacturing and fuel consumption
Capacity

easy task. Following represents a series of suggestions and hints that hopefully
make the task easier.
First, if you are fortunate to be part of a large organization, develop a team
of individuals that you think may help you. This writer has been in favor of at
least a four-person team. The team should consist of a design engineer, a materials type (analytical chemistry people in ones organization may be a good
substitute if you have no true materials engineer), an internal experience engineer, and a representative from the procurement department or an internal company buyer.
Some of the selections of the team are obvious. Each can handle part of the
criteria and subcriteria as listed in Table 1 or any other type of list of requirements that you develop.
The first step is probably the most difficult. That is the selection of the polymer families to evaluate. Initially, some consult the Modern Plastic Encyclopedia. I am partial to Domininghauss book on Plastics for Engineers for
the selection of a thermoplastic. The Modern Plastic Encyclopedia is an excellent and well-respected source book. However, it only contains one data point
within the total history of a particular thermoplastic. Domininghauss provides
pressurevolumetemperature (PVT) graphs on the various thermoplastic
families. That type of data is significant in the processing of materials. These
publications are listed in the Suggested Readings.

Table 2

Plastic Joining Techniques

Adhesive bonding
Electrofusion bonding
Friction welding
Linear
Rotational
Heated tool welding
Hot plate
Hot shoe
High-frequency welding
Hot gas welding
Induction welding
Infrared welding
Laser welding

Mechanical fastening
Beading
Hot stakes
Interface fits
Molded-in and ultrasonic inserts
Molded-in threads
Riveting
Self-threading screws
Snap fit
Solvent joining
Thermal impulse welding
Ultrasonic welding

1434

DESIGN FOR MANUFACTURE AND ASSEMBLY WITH PLASTICS

Now the next action is to obtain samples and technical information from the
suppliers. As previously mentioned, most suppliers have design guides for their
polymers. These are an excellent source of information that can be helpful in
your efforts to design the plastic part. Also, obtain from the polymer supplier
any analytical procedures as to how they characterize their materials. This will
assist your internal analytical people to develop a material knowledge database.
Next, you and your team should review all the available data on the polymer
under consideration. A good literature search through a technical library may
save you time, effort, and money. In addition, you may want to perform your
own tests to fill in missing information. The polymer supplier can be helpful in
this area. The supplier can provide molded, American Society for Testing and
Materials (ASTM) test coupons that you can use for your own testing. If you
are designing a plastic part to be in a certain chemical environment, you may
wish to test your selection in a chemical soak-type test. This can be achieved
by soaking a test coupon in the chemical of concern. You may also want to soak
the test coupon at different temperatures within the operating range of the designed plastic part or within a linear range of behavior of the polymer. If you
can perform such a chemical soak at three different temperatures, you can predict
the lifetime of the polymer if it can be related to a chemical failure. However,
data of this sort must be obtained using the principles of chemical kinetics.
An example of aging a part could be found within the different outcomes
(failure mechanisms) of an egg. Take an egg and set it on a shelf and leave it
alone. After several months the egg becomes rotten. Take a similar egg and
place it under a hen and after a while we had a cute little chick. As a last
example, take another egg and place it in boiling water and after about 10
minutes you have a hard boiled egg. Never pick temperatures throughout the
viscoelastic region of a thermoplastic; you will obtain three different responses
(at its glassy region, at its glass transition temperature, and at its rubbery region)
of the material.3
Now we can proceed with the plastic(s) of choice. This is the polymer with
the magical foo-foo dust that the compounder puts in it for various reasons.
Chemical soak tests are extremely important in the cases where the plastic part
is used in a chemical environment. We do not want anything from the plastic to
be extracted into the chemical environment thus either affecting the properties
of the plastic or contaminating the chemical environment. And the reverse is
also true; we do not want the plastic to absorb chemicals from the chemical
environment. This could cause the properties of the plastics to be lower due to
a plasticization effect.
Also the same type of chemical soak tests should be conducted on the final
molded part with the chemical soaking to an exposed portion of the design. In
addition to develop a material knowledge base for the particular part you are
designing, you will need data in the event you or others have to perform failure
analysis on the molded part.
You may request some of the data mentioned in this chapter from your suppliers.
At this stage you should hopefully be dealing with the molded plastic part
assembly. The next part is to design functional tests that reflect the functionality

SUGGESTED READING LIST

1435

of the plastic molded part assembly as it leaves your facility and as it performs
in the field.
7

CONCLUSION

This chapter was written as hints, suggestions, and tricks to assist one in the
selection of materials for plastic parts design. These hints, suggestions, and tricks
have helped this writer in various industrial positions held and in consulting
projects completed.
Like everyone else I have experienced the phase we dont have time to do
it right the first time, but we have time to redo it. It is always easier to do
some right the first thine.
I have participated in projects in which millions were spent to develop a
plastic assembly and the project failed for the stubbornness of not spending a
couple of thousands of dollars on an analytical test.
I have heard words like mechanical engineers can pick materials. This may
be true. But I have again experienced projects where looking in a polymer
handbook would have saved thousands of dollars and many months of work.
Case in point, polyethylene terephthalate was selected as the material of choice
for a plastic part that had to withstand an internal processing step of being
adhesively bonded to another part for 2 min at 150C. The grade of polyethylene
terephthalate used was a recycled grade with a glass transition temperature in
the vicinity of 60C. Placing the final assembly in an oven at 60C to simulate
an aging test failed all parts due to changes in dimensions of the part. Subjecting
a polyethylene terephthalate coupon to 60C testing or checking the literature
would have been helpful.
Another example was the use of polystyrene as a throw-away coffee cups.
Several years ago a fast-food chain was sued for injuries a customer suffered
for drinking coffee from one of these cups. Part of the injuries occurred because
the cup was made from polystyrene. Polystyrene has a glass transition temperature in the vicinity of 100C. This temperature is the same as the boiling point
of water. If the coffee is extremely hot, it could reach temperatures close to its
glass transition temperature or in the vicinity when the material starts to transit
from the glassy region to the rubbery region of the polymer. In one particular
case it did, thus losing its structural integrity, causing the coffee to spill out of
the cup, burning the customer, and resulting in a legal action.
In the conclusion I would like to say that in writing this chapter I have been
fortunate to have the benefit of books, good teachers, a good network of suppliers, and good co-workers who were part of my team. Engineers who were
willing to learn, and management that had faith in my methods, and, most important, my willingness to be taught by others. I wish you the same.
SUGGESTED READING LIST

As mentioned earlier, this chapter was written from the short courses and graduate lectures that this writer has given in the past. However, I feel obligated to
provide the reader with a reading list. The amount and nature of the information
is even overwhelming to the author.

1436

DESIGN FOR MANUFACTURE AND ASSEMBLY WITH PLASTICS

Brostow, W. (ed.), Performance of Plastics, Hanser / Gardner, Cincinnati, OH, 1995.

Brostow, W. and R. D. Corneliussen (eds.), Failure of Plastics Hanser / Gardner, Cincinnati, OH,
1986.
Domininghaus, H., Plastics for EngineersMaterials, Properties, Applications, Hanser / Gardner,
Cincinnati, OH, 1993.
Dym, J. B., Product Design with Plastics, A Practical Manual, Industrial Press, New York, 1983.
Ezrin, M., Plastics Failure Guide Cause and Prevention, Hanser / Gardner, Cincinnati, OH, 1995,
1996.
MacDermott, C. P., and A. V. Shenoy, Selecting Thermoplastics for Engineering Application, 2nd
ed., Marcel Dekker, New York, 1997.
Malloy, R. A., Plastic Part Design for Injection Molding, Hanser / Gardner, Cincinnati, OH, 1994.
Morton-Jones, D. H., Polymer Processing, Chapman & Hall, New York, 1989.
Osswald, T. A., Polymer Processing Fundamentials, Hanser / Gardner, Cincinnati, OH, 1998.
Osswald, T. A., and G. Menges, Materials Science of Polymers for Engineers, Hanser / Gardner,
Cincinnati, OH, 1995.
Rudin, A., The Elements of Polymer Science and Engineering, An Introductory Text for Engineers
and Chemists, Academic, New York, 1982.
Young, R. J., and P. A. Lovell, Introduction to Polymers, 2nd ed., Chapman & Hall, New York, 1994.

REFERENCES
1. Seyler, R. J., (ed.), Opening Discussions, in Assignment of the Glass Transition, STP 1249,
ASTM, West Conshohocken, PA., 1994, p. 13.
2. Sperling, L. H., Polymeric Multicomponent Materials, An Introduction, Wiley-Interscience, New
York, 1997.
3. Gillen, K. T., Celina, M., Clough, R. L., and Wise, J., Extrapolation of Accelerated Aging Data
Arrhenius or Erroneous? Trends in Polym. Sci., 5(8), 250257, 1997 and the references therein.