SPE Thermoforming Quarterly

Thermoforming Quarterly is a journal published quarterly by the Thermoforming Division of the Society of Plastics Engineers. The magazine is a great way to keep up with industry trends and developments. SPE Thermoforming Division members receive the magazine by mail four times a year. Non-members can access old issues here via PDF file. If you are not an SPE member this is a great reason to join! Become a member today to start receiving this valuable information in your mailbox.

We welcome objective, technical and related articles that provide valuable information to our community of thermoformers, toolmakers, material suppliers and OEMs. Articles are typically 1500-2000 words. We recommend viewing past articles for further guidance. All submissions should be in MS Word, 12-pt Times New Roman.

Artwork, illustrations, photos and graphics should be 300 dpi. We prefer .eps .jpeg and .pdf files

2026 Deadlines for content and artwork: First Quarter: February 15; Second Quarter: May 15; Third Quarter: August 15; Fourth Quarter: November 15.

- Digital TQ Sponsorship Opportunities – NEW

Contact Megan Uphaus at muphaus@thermoformingdivision.com for more information.

Second Quarter 2026

Review of the 2026 European Thermoforming Conference

TThe 14th European Thermoforming Conference was held Strasbourg, France in early March with a rich and varied program that covered technology, materials, and regulation. Organized by the SPE European Thermoforming Division, the two-day event drew presenters from across the value chain, from tool managers and digital twin developers to recycled resin producers and EU policy analysts. The result was a cross-section of an industry that finds itself navigating several simultaneous pressures, none of which are likely to ease any time soon.

If there was a unifying theme across the thin-gauge sessions, it was the gap between the data that forming machines already generate and the decisions that data could actually support. Presentations approached this from complementary angles, from the machine ecosystem level to the tooling level to downstream automation.
The heavy-gauge sessions ranged from automotive recycled content policy to refrigerator liner chemistry to Olympic vehicle manufacturing under a deadline that could not be moved. What connected them was a common pressure: the cost of getting it wrong, whether measured in scrap rate, regulatory exposure, or a delayed fleet delivery to the Paris organizing committee.

Lead Technical Article: Sensitivity of thermoforming to friction and heat transfer: Simulation and experimental validation

Thermoforming is a widely used manufacturing technology for producing thin-walled thermoplastic com-ponents, ranging from packaging and travel trolleys to automotive parts. Despite its broad applications, numerical simulation of the process remains challenging, particularly due to the complex surface interactions between sheet and mold, such as friction and heat transfer, which are not yet fully understood. This study presents a coupled thermal-structural simulation of the forming step, with a particular focus on the mold-sheet interface. The interfacial behavior between sheet and mold is strongly temperature dependent. To characterize this behavior, the coefficient of friction at elevated temperatures is measured using a modified standard friction tester, while the heat transfer coefficient is estimated from in-situ measurements. A nonlinear viscoelastic–viscoplastic model, calibrated using shear and elongational rheological data, is applied to high-impact polystyrene in its rubbery state. For validation, a mold with a high draw ratio and a sharp negative edge was designed. The results show that, in addition to accurately predicting thickness distribution, the model successfully captures defects such as shock marks and loss of detail on sharp edges. Furthermore, the model enables an investigation of how variations in interfacial parameters influence the process outcome. The findings confirm that thermoforming is highly sensitive to both friction and heat transfer. However, since heat transfer between sheet and mold is relatively high, the interfacial temperature can be assumed to remain constant.

Complete articles are published in the magazine and mailed to SPE Thermoforming Division Members.

2026