APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT AND TROUBLESHOOTING
FAQs
What is “application development”?
This is a process which compares the requirements of a given application to the properties and availabilities of materials available. If it appears that a non-metallic material might be an appropriate choice, the process then “drills down” to the specifics needed to evaluate candidate material(s).
What is involved in "application developmen"?
The initial steps are to find materials that meet the basic needs of the application, then identifying one or more materials having the best combination of properties.
The next steps in the process continue with part design assistance (including appropriate tolerances), test design and evaluation of results, finalization assistance then sourcing.
Do you make and sell the parts yourself?
No. In my 47+ years’ experience, I have worked with many high-quality parts manufacturers who provide those services. Depending on part configuration, material selected and quantities required, I can assist you in finding good sources for your parts in one or more manufacturing processes (machining, vacuum-forming, stamping, injection molding, etc).
What about 3D printing?
When I think of where 3D printing falls into the parts manufacturing space, I’m reminded of the line in the old Buffalo Springfield song: “There’s something happening here, what it is isn’t exactly clear”. 3D printing has developed very quickly from simple “fit and finish” prototypes to full production in some cases. The primary industry drivers are automotive and medical, especially applications with unique part configurations not easily machined or molded.
Material technology has advanced quickly as well, with even some polymer + metal materials available for this additive process. AI is accelerating this trend. The major issues are no standardized criteria for property consistency in 3D parts, cost of raw materials (each material advance costs more), cost of the equipment (which is included in part cost) and limited throughput rates. This process has very limited application for bearing and wear industrial components, and this will continue to be the case for years to come as the industry focus remains on structural parts.
What do you mean by “troubleshooting”?
Even with long established applications, something in the dynamics tends to change. Speeds and loads increase, the parts are exposed to new chemical environments (especially cleaning) and parts sometimes don’t last as long as you or your customer want.
The process is much the same as application development, except the initiating force is a problem with the part. The initial discussion includes what is the part doing you don’t want, what isn’t it doing to DO want and, most often, what has changed in the manufacturing or “in use” spaces. For example, in one case an OEM switched from bolting a valve together to robotic welding, and the thermoplastic thrust washers warped due to heat, failing to seat properly. In another, the cleaning solutions were changed to much more aggressive versions and attacked the bushings to the point where parts were dissolving.
What about part failure?
Again, same process but with much more focus. Engineering plastic part failure usually isn’t caused by one thing; it’s usually a cascade of events that result in catastrophic failure. Sometimes it’s just a bad design or material choice. The failure analysis assistance I offer is to help find the root cause issue that started the entire failure cascade.
For instance, a company complained that the “self-lubricating” (that’s comparative to non-modified base materials) bushings were wearing through much faster. Self-lubricating materials can perform without external lubrication within a give load/speed range, beyond which they need to be externally lubricated. What was discovered is that lubrication costs were going up, so someone decided to save $$ and stop lubricating the bushings (root cause). The result was excess surface heat, which softened the material to the point where the proper running clearances were exceeded, and the bushings wore quickly and eventually failed.
Another had large cast nylon gears which were installed in segments, to make them easier to install and replace. When a tooth broke, despite the manual saying to replace ALL the segments, they would only replace the broken segment (root cause). So now there were 11 somewhat worn segments with a given backlash clearance, with the 12th having brand new teeth with no clearance, and the new segments kept jamming and breaking.
Lastly – and this is usually critical – having the failed part to inspect (or at the very least good pictures) takes most (if not all) the guesswork out of the failure analysis. A failed engineering thermoplastic part will usually tell you much of what happened. The all-too-typical information I get is “part broke on 2nd shift on Friday and they threw it out”. Now we can only go on hearsay and opinions rather than facts