Sep 3, 2019
Differences in wall thickness cause changes in the speed of the melt front.
This can lead to air traps, weld lines, e.g..
To get a well balanced, homogenous flow behavior, increasing local wall thickness, called flow leaders, can speed up the flow front in a specific area.
Quality: The melt hesitates in the thin area leading to an
air trap (Image 1). By adding a flow leader the thin wall is increased and the
air trap gone (Image 2).
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This glossary of plastic industry is provided by PLEXPERT Canada Inc.
Sep 12, 2024
The measure of a material’s resistance to the penetration of another (harder) body is called hardness.
In the plastics industry, hardness is used to evaluate the strength and resistance of a material. There are various measurement methods, including Shore hardness, Vickers hardness and Rockwell hardness, each of which measures different aspects of material properties. Hardness testing is important to determine the suitability of plastics for specific applications, particularly in areas where wear resistance and mechanical strength are critical.
Hardness values are often expressed in numbers, with higher values indicating harder materials.
The determination of hardness is a key aspect of material testing and development in the plastics industry.

Quality: Conventional
hardness test: (1) Load up to the test load, (2) Creep process under test load, (3) Elastic recovery
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Plastic testing
This glossary of plastic industry is provided by PLEXPERT Canada Inc.
Mar 10, 2026
Mechanical surface stiffness of elastomeric materials is determined using measuring systems that record the penetration of a defined indenter under controlled force. In Micro-Shore A and IRHD-Micro testing, the penetration depth of a standardized indenter into materials such as rubber or other elastomers is measured with high precision. A hardness testing device enables this measurement under reproducible conditions and provides quantitative values for evaluating material properties, quality, and aging behavior. Micro-hardness testing is particularly advantageous for thin samples, small components, or localized material analysis due to its high measurement accuracy and comparability.

Quality Assurance: Classic measuring device for
hardness testing
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This glossary of plastic industry is provided by PLEXPERT Canada Inc.
May 10, 2019
One important characteristic to determine the quality for injection molding production is the pressure inside of the cavity.
The pressure can be detected using pressure sensors that measure either directly or indirectly.
An advantage of the indirect sensors is the positioning in the clamping plate of the mold (ejection side).
There is no need for maintanance or removing the sensors if the mold is disassembled for service.
Therefore, the risk of violating the wires of the sensor is more or less zero. Both Sensor and wires are protected by the pressure plate and a stainless steel cover.

Quality:
Pressure sensor for the indirect measurement of the
cavity pressure.
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This glossary of plastic industry is provided by PLEXPERT Canada Inc.
May 25, 2021
Plastics can absorb varying amounts of moisture during storage. Depending on the plastic used, the degree of moisture must be measured before production and reduced by drying if necessary.
If a sample is heated by means of infrared radiation when measuring residual moisture, this is referred to as infrared residual moisture measurement.
The measuring principle is as follows:
A sample is heated by infrared rays. This evaporates the moisture from the plastic. By checking the weight with a precision scale built into the measuring device, the difference in weight before and after drying is determined.
This result corresponds to the moisture content in %.

Quality assurance: Infrared
residual moisture measuring device in use
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This glossary of plastic industry is provided by PLEXPERT Canada Inc.