SPE Thermoforming Quarterly®
Fourth Quarter 2025
Toward Standardized Material Constants for Predictive Thermoforming
Thermoforming, unlike metals processing, uses polymers whose properties are not fixed but instead are time- and temperature-dependent. Whereas metals can often be described by a handful of universal constants—elastic modulus, yield strength, thermal conductivity—polymers are inherently viscoelastic. Their behavior during sheet heating and forming varies with temperature, strain rate, and material history…
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K2025 Summary
K2025 is in the books, and it delivered a wealth of knowledge in an economy of time. What this event reveals is that the size, scale, and sheer diversity of the plastics industry make it difficult to find a uniform narrative. The mood was therefore mixed, with plastics recyclers continuing to struggle with price and regulatory pressures, and machinery builders still pushing the boundaries of AI-enhanced technologies…
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