Material selection for plastic products

Abstract

The versatile nature of plastics have made them suitable for a wide range of applications in today's world. Therefore, it is essential to select appropriate materials for the manufacturing of plastic products. It is a challenge to select suitable raw materials, additives, and processing methods for the production of plastic products to be used in different application areas. Right material choice is necessary for a new product or packaging material that leads to optimum performance for end-use. At the same time, a wrong choice can lead to a tremendous amount of capital loss to the company due to reasons such as recalling of the product, warranty claims, and project delays. Many people view plastics as a single type of material because of the lack of awareness of numerous polymers available to them. Thus, a product can attain its desired functional capabilities, service life, and safety only through accurate material selection. Generally, the application of a particular product determines the right choice of material, however, the search for a suitable plastic should also consider several fundamental properties into account before selection. In this article we discuss the significance of different properties such as mechanical, thermal, physical, electrical, and optical for proper material selection.