Unlock the Value of Robust Injection Molding Resin Qualifications
Gain confidence in your resins
Injection molders rely on suppliers to provide consistent resins that perform as expected on their equipment.
When selecting the right HDPE resin grades for their needs, converters reference supplier data sheets showing resin properties such as density, melt index, tensile strength, impact resistance, and flexural strength.
Suppliers produce this data by measuring physical and mechanical properties of their resin grades during a testing process known as qualification.
Not all qualification processes are made equal.
Advertised resin properties may be inaccurate, or suppliers may fail to produce resins to the specs shown, leading to inconsistency between batches.
For converters, those challenges increase troubleshooting downtime, wasted materials, and costs.
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Ensuring accurate, consistent resin properties
The testing standards of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) dictate that compression molding should be used to produce test specimens for injection molding qualification – specifically when it comes to base resin properties.
This helps to ensure more uniform specimens, which can be beneficial for certain types of testing or when comparing materials.
If all suppliers use compression molding in internal qualification, it creates an apples-to-apples comparison and eliminates potential inaccurate resin properties. The result is a fair playing field, where you can be confident your resins meet your specific needs.
Failure to follow ASTM standards can lead to specimens that contain different layers and orientation, potentially inflating certain values, such as on impact and flexural tests.
- The experts in Shell Polymers’ Application Hall and polymer laboratories closely follow ASTM guidelines for qualification.
- That means we take the necessary measures to ensure customers receive a vetted product that will consistently perform in their equipment.
- We also analyze pellets at the molecular level to ensure they meet the standards expected.
- Our customers can trust that our resins meet the specifications and perform consistently to expectations, lot to lot.
Going above and beyond with application testing
ASTM testing standards are important, but Shell Polymers’ qualification process doesn’t stop there.
At our Application Hall in Monaca, Pennsylvania, we have state-of-the-art equipment to continue qualifying our injection molding resins, helping to ensure they’ll run properly and efficiently for your applications. This also means customers don’t have to use their own production capacity for testing.
Our KraussMaffei PX 120-180 and GX 650-8100 injection molding machines allow us to undertake comprehensive application testing.
This includes producing and testing your specific products, monitoring processing conditions, and ensuring consistency in production.
We confirm the mechanical properties and consistency of production, monitor processing conditions and variables, and ensure the results are what we expect between runs.
This testing also includes an extended run to test all processing conditions and mechanical properties, aiming to produce consistent quality and processability.
We run base impact, edge impact, and side impact testing, and measure part weight, dimensions, compression, and environmental stress crack resistance.
Producing consistent resins
Our adherence to rigorous qualification testing enables consistent quality, processability, and repeatability of our injection molding resins.
We start with best practices, and then we go above and beyond to ensure performance and consistency.
Our qualification process leads to smoother production, less downtime, and greater efficiency for injection molders.