A graph recently published in Plastics News got me thinking about the role plastics plays in our water infrastructure. The pie chart shows projected plastics use by the water infrastructure industry by industry segment for the next 10 years. In this post, we’ll explore some of the surprising ways that plastics have made themselves indispensible in the water infrastructure […]
In the past decade, the dream of measurement-based, custom-designed products has started to become a reality. This revolution, which will continue to shape the plastics industry for the foreseeable future, owes itself to the convergence of multiple technological trends, including the development of relatively affordable 3d scanning and data-processing tools, the advent of 3d printing technology, and the development […]
Plastics industry news and research outlet Plastics Technology recently published an interview with Perc Pineda, PhD, the chief economist of the Plastics Industry Association, about the global state of the plastics industry. His responses paint a picture of an industry ripe with opportunities in the coming decade.
In this post, we’ll outline a few of the most important trends covered […]
Many people outside the industry might be surprised to learn that the development of physical prototypes is still critical to the creation of successful products. Despite the rise of sophisticated digital design software, it turns out, there’s no replacement for good old hands-on testing of actual prototypes.
In the past, moving from an engineering drawing to a physical prototype was […]
According to a report recently published by Dublin-based company Research and Markets, the smart polymer market is expected to maintain a respectable growth rate of 14.7% through 2023. The report, titled “Smart polymers – global market outlook (2017-2023)”, predicts that the global smart polymer market will be worth $3.98 billion USD by 2023.
The report suggests that growth will be […]
Global Market, Inc. recently named the injection moulding industry as one of the “most dynamically evolving businesses in recent times”. Given the importance of injection moulding to the plastics industry as a whole, it is very important to keep up on the most recent trends. In this post, we’ll take a look at some of the trends to look […]
On January 1, the global plastics recycling industry entered a new era as China’s ban on imported plastic and paper waste came into effect. In this post, we’ll take a look at the political origins of the import ban and what plastics producers and consumers around the world are doing to adapt.
In 2016, China imported 45 million tonnes of […]
The magic of film has been with us since 1888, when the first film ever made, titled “Roundhay Garden Scene” was created by French inventor Louis Le Prince (check out this website for some other early contenders). At just over two seconds in length, it was hardly a blockbuster. However, it opened the doors to the development of the […]
The next time you go on a plane, look around you. Plastics are everywhere. It is a testament to the unique characteristics of plastics that they have made their way into aviation, a field with extremely strict engineering requirements and wide safety margins. In this post, inspired by a blog post published by Market Insider, we’ll take a look […]
The ability of plants to produce energy from sunlight is incredible. Unlike all animals and most human-made machines, plants can produce complex sugars using nothing but sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water.
For decades, engineers have attempted to harness the power of the sun to power various chemical processes. This week, a new paper published by a team based at the […]
