Verification and tests within polymer materials, design and processing

Testing, verification and even validation is common during development, but what is the difference between these terms, and what does it mean for your analysis? There is one common factor and that is the purpose. In addition you have questions where you need a yes/no answer.
The challenge is that you can never be 100% sure about the conclusion because in theory it could be pure luck that the test went well. You may test more products to be certain, but how many do you need to test? My question is how much evidence do you need? I hope to try to give you at least part of the answer.

In medical device development design loops with physical prototypes are a part of the process to reach the design intend. We have over the past 15 years been using CT-scanning comprehensively in the development process for prototype characterization. That is for moulded part verification and for troubleshooting functional challenges and failure investigations in device testing. This presentation will through examples demonstrate opportunities, limitations, and give you recommendations for using this characterisation tool in test and verification.

The creative process of building LEGO models is only possible with high precision interlocking LEGO elements. This has been the case for more than 60 years. Due to the LEGO Planet Promise and the ambition of introducing new sustainable materials it is necessary to explore a wider range of materials.
This presentation aims to show the main technical consideration to guaranty the high level quality of LEGO products no matter the type of resin, colors, suppliers and element design required for the near future. In this work, the processing parameter influence on shrinkage and crystallinity was studied in a DoE. Furthermore, the influence of colours was also investigated.

Development and verification of devices containing injection moulded parts are traditional time consuming and highly expensive. This presentation will show ways to optimize the development process – time to market with examples and ideas taking into consideration the environmental footprint too.

Products are usually tested in large-scale, time-consuming tests under application conditions before introduction to the market. To avoid costly retests at this stage it is desirable to identify the products critical components and screen these for potential problems with regard to the foreseen application conditions. The presentation will show some examples where such screening analysis tests revealed problems relating to polymer materials and processing, and helped to avoid costly retests.

Diffusion of gases and liquids in polymers is relevant for many applications of polymers. Permeation through the material is important for the barrier properties in use with pipes, gas containers and packaging of foods and pharmaceutical products. It is also important for pressure transducers and pumps where seals are influenced. Measuring permeation as a function of time gives a measurement of solubility and diffusivity in the polymer. After touching the theory, methods for measuring and some results will be shared along with some unusual applications illustrating pitfalls for hermetically sealed products.

Performance? Quality assurance? Supply? Recycled content? Additives? Marketing? The use of recycled plastics poses many questions for verifications and quality assurance, that normally is handled by the polymer supplier when it comes to virgin polymers. The tools for dealing with some of these questions are built in norms, standards, regulations, and directives. One example is the proposal on updates to “recycled plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foods, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 282/2008”. Here, it is proposed that each batch of recycled plastics to be used in food packaging should come with a declaration of conformity.

We will look into these complex questions in the talk – honestly, we don’t give a solution manual, but we hope to spawn a dialogue and get feedback from the participants.