This book is aimed at designers who have had limited or no experience with plastics materials as well as a more experienced designer who is designing a part for a use, process or an application that they are not familiar with. The reader is provided with an introduction to plastics as a design material and a discussion of materials commonly in use today. There is a discussion of a variety of processes available to the designer to make a part along with the design considerations each process will entail. This section also includes a discussion of useful prototyping processes, including advantages and disadvantages of each. Next, the book will discuss general design considerations applicable to most plastics product designs. In section 2 of the book the author will discuss elements of design of a number of generic plastic product types based on his 40+ years of experience of product design and development for a several companies with a variety of products. This section will include discussions of structural components, gears, bearings, hinges, snap fits, packaging, pressure vessels, and optical components. This section will discuss the general considerations that apply to these applications as well as specific incites about each particular application. The book concludes with a discussion of the general design process.

• A comprehensive book which collates the experience of two well-known US plastic engineers.• Enables engineers to make informed decisions.• Includes a unique chronology of the world of plastics.The use of plastics is increasing year on year, and new uses are being found for plastics in many industries. Designers using plastics need to understand the nature and properties of the materials which they are using so that the products perform to set standards.This book, written by two very experienced plastics engineers, provides copious information on the materials, fabrication processes, design considerations and plastics performance, thus allowing informed decisions to be made by engineers.It also includes a useful chronology of the world of plastics, a resource not found elsewhere.

Table of contents

Plastics Product Design Provides the reader with access to lessons learned in the author’s 40 years of plastics product design experience Part 1 of the book provides the reader with an introduction to plastics as a design material and a discussion of materials commonly in use today. There is a discussion of a variety of processes available to the designer to make a part along with the design considerations each process will entail. This section also includes a discussion of useful prototyping processes, including advantages and disadvantages of each. Next, the book discusses general design considerations applicable to most plastics product designs. In Part 2 of the book the author discusses elements of design of a number of generic plastic product types based on his more than 40 years of experience of product design and development for several companies with a variety of products. This section includes discussions of structural components, gears, bearings, hinges, snap fits, packaging, pressure vessels, and optical components. This section also discusses the general considerations that apply to these applications as well as specific insights about each particular application. There is also a chapter on the most important joining techniques. Part 2 ends with a discussion of the general design process. The book concludes with 3 appendices on thermal properties of selected generic materials; properties of selected structural components; and common abbreviations for plastic materials. Audience This book is aimed at product designers and plastics application engineers who have had limited or no experience with plastics materials as well as a more experienced designer who is designing a part for a use, process or an application that they are not familiar with.

Designing Successful Products with Plastics: Fundamentals of Plastic Part Design 2e provides expert insight into design considerations required to bring a concept product or part through design and ready-for-production. Rather than focusing on design rules and engineering equations used during product development, the emphasis of the book is on what the designer needs to consider during the early conceptual visualization stages, and in the detailed stages of the design process. This fully updated edition features new practical advice on how to design sustainably throughout the book. This approach will bridge the gap between the industrial designer, tasked with the 'big picture' product design and use, and the part designer, tasked with the detailed plastic part design for manufacture. Useful to both experienced and novice designers, this book brings valuable design process information through specific examples, enabling designers and engineers in the plastics industry to effectively use the available technical information to successfully design and manufacture new products. - Brings together the worlds of the plastic part designer and the industrial designer and shows how each impacts the success of a development project. - Teaches the "Four Pillars considerations (Materials, Processes, Tooling, and Design) required for every design decision to be made during a plastic part design project. The interrelationship of these considerations with the sustainability intent for the product being developed is taught and illustrated within this new edition. - Illustrates the product design process roadmap from creation of the concept through implementation into manufacturing, highlighting steps and methods used throughout the process to limit risk and ensure success. - Includes methods and design project management techniques used to ensure an efficient design process and successful manufacturing of the product or part.

Plastics have become increasingly important in the products used in our society, ranging from housing to packaging, transportation, business machines and especially in medicine and health products. Designing plastic parts for this wide range of uses has become a major activity for designers, architects, engineers, and others who are concerned with product development. Because plastics are unique materials with a broad range of proper ties they are adaptable to a variety of uses. The uniqueness of plastics stems from their physical characteristics which are as different from metals, glasses, and ceramics as these materials are different from each other. One major concern is the design of structures to take loads. Metals as well as the other materials are assumed to respond elastically and to recover completely their original shape after the load is removed. Based on this simple fact, extensive litera ture on applied mechanics of materials has been developed to enable designers to predict accurately the performance of structures under load. Many engineers depend on such texts as Timoshenko's Strength of Materials as a guide to the performance of structures. Using this as a guide, generations of engineers have designed economical and safe structural parts. Unfortunately, these design principles must be modified when designing with plastics since they do not respond elastically to stress and undergo permanent deformation with sus tained loading.

Design and Manufacturing of Plastics Products: Integrating Conventional Methods and Innovative Technologies brings together detailed information on design, materials selection, properties, manufacturing, and the performance of plastic products, incorporating the utilization of the latest novel techniques and additive manufacturing technologies. The book integrates the design of molded products and conventional manufacturing and molding techniques with recent additive manufacturing techniques to produce performant products and cost-effective tools. Key areas of innovation are explained in detail, including hybrid molds, the integration of processing options with product properties and performance, and sustainability factors such as eco-design strategies, recycling, and lifecycle assessment. Other sections cover the development of plastics products, including design methodologies, design solutions specific to plastics, and design for re-use, as well as manufacturing and performance, with an emphasis on thermoplastic molding techniques, recent advances on plastics tooling, and the appraisal of the influence of processing options on product performance. This is a valuable resource to plastics engineers, design engineers, mold makers, and product or part designers across industries. It will also be of interest to researchers and advanced students in plastics engineering, polymer science, additive manufacturing and mechanical engineering. Offers a thorough grounding in plastics part design, thermoplastic material selection, properties, manufacture and performance of plastic parts Presents the latest advances, including the integration of additive manufacturing in the plastics product development cycle, hybrid molds, and lifecycle and recycling considerations Enables the reader to utilize traditional methods alongside cutting-edge technologies in the production of performant plastic products and parts