First Quarter 2023

A Novel Incremental Decoupled Finite Element Approach for Sheet Sagging During Heating In Thermoforming Process

In order to make a semi-finished plastic product formable in the thermoforming process, it must first be heated to its processing temperature. The reason for this is that the constitutive behaviour of polymers strongly depends on temperature, in addition to elongation and strain rate. Companies that thermoform components seek the best possible temperature distribution in the heating process to achieve a high-quality plastic part with an economical process. Radiant heating is widely used to heat the plate. However, the heating process is very complex because the heat transfer rate varies with more than just temperature…

First Quarter 2023

Designer’s Corner: Optimizing Design for Manufacturing – A Case Study

Product designers are chiefly interested in the materials and manufacturing processes as means to an end. In other words, we are not partial to a specific process. Designers optimize the design for a particular manufacturing process based on numerous considerations. We will explore some of these in this article.

The product design and development journey from the beginning of this project to the end was a roller-coaster saga of disappointments, extreme mental pressure, and high risks. When I was first introduced to the project, my eyes fell upon the prototype shown in picture 3…