Expert in Plastic Films, Sheets, & Analysis

Available for your Consulting and Expert Witness Needs

FILM COATING PROCESS; ORIENTED POLYMER FILMS. Expert has developed successful heat sealable polyvinylidene chloride (SARAN) barrier coatings for oriented polystyrene film and sheet, as well as for oriented polypropylene, and polyvinylchloride films. This work involved work with primer coatings and a variety of adhesion-enhancing film treatments, as well as pilot plant scale-up. The SARAN coated PP film process eventually went to production. He also developed anti-fog, scratch-resistant, and heat sealable coatings for oriented polystyrene film, and has knowledge in both latex and lacquer coating technologies.

PLASTIC FILM PRODUCTION; BUBBLE FILM ORIENTATION; BUBBLE PROCESS. Expert has supervised and run pilot plants for making oriented polystyrene film (bubble) and sheet (tenter), polyvinyl chloride film (bubble), and SARAN film (bubble). He has aided with oriented polypropylene film (bubble) process, and become familiar with tentering process for MYLAR film and sheet. In addition, he expanded the thickness limitation envelope for the SARAN film process and built co-extrusion capabilities into the process.

PLASTICS EXTRUSION. Expert has worked in support of plastic film manufacture, many different extrusion operations were used -- such as polymer melt cooling, chill rollcasting, and quench bath cooling -- all designed to condition a melt for subsequent stretching (orientation), sheet and circular die adjustment for gauge control, B-ray gauges for thickness measurement, randomization winding techniques to give flat film rolls, vacuum and pressure forming of polystyrene sheet, laminating, scrap recovery, and co-extrusion.

THERMAL ANALYSIS OF PLASTICS; THERMOGRAVIMETRIC ANALYSIS; THERMOMECHANICAL ANALYSIS. Expert has spent several years working with DSC (Differential Scanning Calorimeter), TGA (Thermogravimetric Analysis), TMA (Thermomechanical Analysis), and DMA (Dynamic Mechanical Analysis). He has applied these techniques to a wide variety of plastics problems (often for the first time). He demonstrated the value of these techniques to many production plants which now use these techniques for QC, to measure such things as rates of crystallization, glass transition temperatures, and melting behaviors. They are powerful techniques often unknown to plastics technologists.