Understanding Mechanical Properties of Thermoplastics
CLOSED FOR REGISTRATION

Many professionals involved in plastic part design or materials specialists can profit by improving their understanding of the very complex thermo-mechanical performance of polymeric materials or compounds.

This knowledge is often critical considering the frequently complex failure phenomena observed in plastics (creep, impact, environmental stress cracking, plastic yielding, crazing, brittle failure…).

The subject is both very wide and extremely challenging. The ambition of this new BIMS II seminar is to provide an in depth introduction to the participants, regardless of their background or specific experience.

Two days is too short to get very deep into the details, but more than adequate to explore quite deeply the subject, establishing a solid knowledge base for all participants, and preparing them to consider more specialized reading or training in their particular field of interest within the area.

You can participate in this seminar even if you haven’t attended BIMS I (Understanding Injecting Molding of Thermoplastics).

Both BIMS-seminars ('Understanding Injecting Molding of Thermoplastics' and 'Understanding Mechanical Properties of Thermoplastics') will be presented in a yearly basis in public sessions organized by ATV-SEMAPP or in private form to interested companies.

Seminar's Scope
This seminar will focus on the complex mechanical performance of plastics in order to introduce the key behavior of these unique materials (visco-elasticity, non linearity, creep, impact, failure mechanisms).

Participants could be :

• Design or mechanical engineers working with plastics
• Molders interested in part performance
• Professionals interested in plastic part failure mechanisms
• FEA specialists
• Project leaders involved in developing plastic parts
• Research engineers interested in polymer performance
• Material specialists or designers wishing to improve their understanding of mechanical performance of a given class of materials (amorphous, crystalline, filled or unfilled).
• Students involved in the field of polymers
• Young, skilled professionals with limited experience in the field
• Seasoned professionals looking for a fresh view on (or review of) polymer mechanical performance
• Flow analysis specialists wishing to extend their knowledge to the field of mechanical performance
• Customer support engineers
• Scientists

The BIMS II 2-day seminar content
The teaching material (over 200 slides) provides an in depth introduction in the field of plastic mechanical performance.
After attending the seminar, we expect the participants to have a fairly good answer to many typical questions that often come-up when dealing with plastics, like, for instance:

• Why does the modulus of plastics change so much with temperature? Why is this change so different from one polymer to another?
• Why do amorphous polymers generally fail in a brittle way in long term tests or impact? Why do some still perform quite well in these conditions?
• Why do we have such a thing as a “brittle-ductile” transition in polymers? What is it exactly? Why are some polymers ductile at some test rates and brittle at lower as well as higher strain-rates? Why is the test “timing” so important for plastics?
• Why does plastic performance change so much with processing conditions, even when unfilled, and even when amorphous?
• Why do polymers “age”? What does this mean and what are the implications on performance?
• What are the mechanisms behind rubber reinforcement? Why is the morphology of these blends so critical? Why do we need to tailor the formulations to every specific polymer?
• What is Yielding? What is plastic flow? Why do some polymers “shear-band” and neck in a tensile experiment, and some don’t?
• What is the role of crystallinity in mechanical properties of plastics?
• Why does a polymer, at the same temperature, generally fail at very different times and stress levels in short vs. long term (creep) tests? Is there a way to predict long term performance from shorter terms tests?
• How can we measure properly the intrinsic mechanical properties of polymers at large strains without artifacts (necking) or premature failure?
• Why do glass fiber increase modulus and strength but reduce elongation at break? What are the reinforcing mechanisms? How critical is the interfacial strength between matrix and filler? What is the optimum fiber length?
• Why do we test plastics with and without a “notch”? What is really happening at the notch? Why do some polymers still perform when notched and some don’t?

The list of questions is very long, but the ones listed above give at least a good idea of the general approach of the seminar. No “recipes”, but mainly focus on “understanding” so that any new question, new problem, new polymer can hopefully be addressed and examined with the right concepts in mind.

Have a fresh view on classical material without getting lost in huge textbooks
Many of the subjects presented are supposedly well-known and largely described in text-books or scientific literature. However, the reality is often that the subject appears to be daunting making it very difficult or almost impossible to find the necessary knowledge, presented in a comprehensive but understandable way, within a concise text.

The seminar may not fit the needs of beginners in the field, although our intention is to present material requiring no pre-requisite knowledge. Conversely, specialists in the field may find this 2 day’s training too general to fit their needs. We believe however that this seminar may bring a fresh view on classical material which will provide useful understanding and interpretation tools to all participants.

Don't hesitate to bring your own stories (good or bad), materials, examples...
Compared to the now classical BIMS seminar on Injection Molding, this training on mechanical properties is somewhat more challenging in terms of theoretical content.
We count on the attendants’ active participation to bring up examples of plastic part failures or other mechanical related issues, in order to make the session as interactive as possible.
As observed over the years with our BIMS I seminar on Injection Molding, we will enrich the presentation with more and more practical examples provided by the participants as we go.
We thank you in advance for your help and material (parts, drawings, pictures, examples, good stories…).
The session “zero” of this seminar has been already presented privately to specialists in the field at Novo Nordisk (Oct. 2013), and was largely appreciated.
We hope to see you soon at our first public session of this training.

More information on detailed content and the questions to be discussed and answered can be seen at the BIMS homepage (address below).

Further information
Dr. Vito LEO, Sentier de BOMAL 8, 1315 INCOURT – BELGIUM, vito@bims-seminars.com, tel.: +32 478 449709, fax : +32 2 6125066.
http://www.bims-seminars.com.

Why attend the course/training seminar?
Major arguments for attending this course are

• The course will be highly interactive
• Attendance is limited, allowing for questions, group discussions and analysis of attendant problems
• Parts drawings are welcome for open discussion when possible
• You will get a thoroughly teaching in aspects of the polymer mechanical properties, in only two days
• You extend your professional network
• The teacher of the course, Dr. Vito LEO has been working nearly 25 years in Polymer Processing and has a well known expertise. This course offers a unique possibility to be updated, guided by Vito LEO.
  
  

TIME
May 20^th, 2015: 10:00 to 18:00 and
May 21^st, 2015: 08.30 to 16.30.

VENUE
DGI Byen, Tietgensgade 65  1704 København V, tlf.: +45 3329 8000.
Promoted in collaboration with the magazine Teknovation

REGISTRATION FEE
DKK 10.900 + 25% VAT.
Includes sessions during the two days, educational materials, luncheons, coffee breaks and dinner first evening. Excl. hotel booking.
Reduced fee if registering before March 28^th, 2015: DKK 10.500 + 25% VAT.
Members of ATV-SEMAPP gets a reduction of DKK 800.

CANCELLATION
Cancellations received 35 days or more before the seminar are fully refunded.
For cancellations received less than 30 days but more than 14 days before the seminar, 70 % of the fee payment will be refunded. No refund for cancellations received later than May 5^th, 2014. Substitutions are accepted at any time.