The use of plastic and rubber seems so obvious. And indeed, almost all of our utensils contain plastic and rubber. It is not without reason that these materials play an important role in our society. However, the world is changing rapidly and innovations and new developments are therefore extremely important for the industry.
The trend to replace metal with plastic has been going on for some time. Plastic therefore offers major advantages over the use of metal for many applications. These advantages include design freedom, easy to process, no post-processing, low specific mass, low cost price, corrosion-resistant, temperature-resistant, many colours, recyclable, many properties that can be added, insulating effect. The developments in this area are therefore legion.
When switching from metal to plastic, it must be crystal clear what the consequences of re-engineering are for the product properties of the part that can be made of plastic. The differences between plastics and metals must be taken into account, as plastics behave differently from metals in many ways. A sound knowledge of the different types of plastics and the resulting possibilities and limitations is therefore a necessary condition for a successful transition from metal to plastic.
