We shared this schematic of the rotational molding process (drawn by ARM Technical Director Nick Henwood and spruced up by Anthony Kozelka of Quantum Polymers) with our members last week. We asked them which part of the process they saw the most opportunity in automating. See the responses below and let us know your opinion in the comments.
ARM webinars were viewed 5,000 times in the last year. This number includes live webinar attendance and recorded webinar views, in which members watch our 10+ years of webinars at their convenience on the ARM website.
We now offer more than 85 webinars on-demand for members. Members can access all of these titles immediately. Non-members can join here.
In addition to a variety of new webinar topics in 2020, we have begun a six-part series on Rotational Part design which you can begin now. The series will be completed in August
ARM has rescheduled Rotoplas, our international trade show, to September 20-23, 2021.
In its place this year, we are conducting an online Annual Meeting that is free to members. The meeting will be held the week of September 21, 2020. It will include online education, a virtual exhibit hall, and networking opportunities. We will bring you the industry knowledge you expect from our Annual Meeting, address rotomolders’ challenges as a result of COVID, and provide the problem-solving benefits that come from our members putting their heads together. The online format allows us to reach rotomolders who don’t typically attend the Annual Meeting.
We will provide more details this summer but you can sign up today by clicking here.
The Board of Directors decided to reschedule because of travel bans impacting members, restrictions for holding meetings in Illinois, difficulties in international travel, and the safety of our members.
Exhibitors
ARM is determined to provide the value you expect from a Rotoplas show. In order to do that, we must reschedule. You have likely paid a 10% deposit and we are holding your space. You can keep the same space for Rotoplas 2021. All Rotoplas exhibitors will also have space at our online trade show in conjunction with the 2020 online meeting at no additional cost. We have a unique plan for the online show this September and we’ll share details with you shortly.
The due date for your next exhibit space payment has been moved to June 4, 2021.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact ARM staff.
Sponsors
Your existing Rotoplas sponsorship now includes recognition for an additional event — our online Annual Meeting — at no additional cost. That will include pre- and post-show coverage of the event. We will be in touch this summer with more details. Contact ARM staff if you have any feedback.
Did you already book your hotel?
We’ll have information regarding hotel reservations soon. The hotels are accomodating this change but they have furloughed many employees so these details will take some time.
Feedback
Please share your feedback. The registration form includes some questions to help us gear the meeting to you. You can also email Executive Director Adam Webb.
Donate
The 2020 Annual Meeting is free to members. Our goal for the meeting is to bring as many of our members as possible together online.
We understand that some of our members are facing financial difficulties related to COVID. Our Board has also anticipated some members might offer to pay for the meeting. Please consider instead a donation to the Roy Crawford Education and Development Foundation which funds research on the rotomolding process, our annual scholarship program, and more.
On June 11, ARM begins an ambitious six-part series on Designing Rotomolded Parts. Every two weeks through August, Michael Paloian of Integrated Design Systems will present on design basics, guidelines, materials, case studies, and more.
Members can sign up for free using the links in our email newsletter. If you want to join ARM, contact us or learn more.
Join us throughout the summer for these valuable presentations:
Thanks to Michael Paloian of Integrated Design Systems for organizing these presentations for ARM Members.
Michael Paloian is president of Integrated Design Systems, Inc. (IDS), located in Oyster Bay, New York. Since its inception more than 35 years ago, IDS has developed hundreds of products ranging from MRI machines to pool chlorinators under the direction of Mr. Paloian. Michael’s education as an industrial designer and plastics engineer has provided him with a unique set of design skills, enabling him to design products from concept to production. Mr. Paloian has an in-depth knowledge of designing parts in numerous processes and materials, including plastics, metals and composites. This broad knowledge base combined with his extensive experience in designing hundreds of products provides him with a distinctive advantage in optimizing designs based on materials, process and cost. Mr. Paloian holds more than 45 patents and has served as chairman for a few divisions within the SPE. He has lectured hundreds of times for organizations such as the SPE, SPI, ARM and IDSA. Michael has also written numerous articles concerning design for publications such as Machine design, Design News, Innovation, Rotation and Plastics Design Forum. Mr. Paloian has also lectured in Paris, Rome, Brazil and India.
ARM invited our supplier members to record short webinars to share what’s new with rotomolders or introduce their companies. There are 18 brand new presentations to watch below.
Rick Carlsen
For the rest of the messages I write this year, I will continue to record some numbers that are affecting my thinking, just like I did when I wrote my last message on 3/21/20.
Today is 05/11/20 (happy belated Mother’s Day to all the moms!). The US has 1,334,951 confirmed COVID-19 cases (up from 6,519 on 3/21). There have been 4,142,97 cases worldwide (up from 204,000), and the DJIA is at 24,333 (up from 20,315). Schools, restaurants, bars, and other “non-essential” businesses remain closed. For all intents and purposes, face masks are mandatory while injecting disinfectants into patients seems like a prudent medical strategy.
In the last 50 days, ARM enacted its plan to engage with its members in a different way. ARM has more frequent emails going out to membership with updates on topics ranging from PPE (personal protection equipment) to the PPP (Payroll Protection Program). Webinars are occurring more frequently with many more planned. ARM is working hard to engage in a social distancing environment.
Membership feedback has been crucial during this time. We are getting suggestions from members about what type of information they need to navigate the storm. As quickly as possible, we are acting on suggestions and putting reliable content in front of members. This model seems to be working.
We continue to value and act on the feedback received, so please keep it coming.
Based on travel restrictions and social distancing guidelines, ARM is modifying the format of the Summer Regional Meetings this year. Rather than hosting three to four meetings around the US this year, ARM is going to host an online Regional Meeting. While we are giving up the face to face meetings that membership finds so valuable, we are moving to a format where more participants can view and access presentations and information. I am hopeful that this format proves to be as effective as other regional meetings.
The details for the event will be communicated and promoted when the details and logistics are finalized.
Finally, I want to remind you that ARM’s knowledge library is accessible to our members. The knowledge library has information on almost any topic that applies to your business. This is a great resource to help train and educate your employees.
Thank you for your continued support of ARM!
Sincerely,
Rick Carlsen
Solar Plastics, LLC
ARM President
Dr. Nick Henwood
On Thursday April 30, 2020 ARM held a discussion on Leak Testing, moderated by Education Committee Chairman Ron Cooke (ExxonMobil) and Sandy Scaccia (Norstar Aluminum Molds). The session was very well attended and the discussion between everyone on the call was excellent. There was so much useful information exchanged that we decided to try to capture all the salient points.
We began by talking about the methods that are commonly used for leak testing of rotomolded parts, then discussed some more unusual methods that had been tried. Then we talked about whether leaks can be rectified and what can be done to stop the leaks happening in the first place. This led us into a very interesting detailed discussion about issues with metal inserts, which is one of the most common causes of leak problems. Continue reading
Question: I have been discussing rotomolding resin made from butene versus hexene and have received mixed feedback. Is there a real difference between the two and are there applications where one is preferred over the other? Or is it just a question of price and availability, when it comes to using prime material in natural or color?
Dr. Nick Henwood
This is a question that I’m asked quite frequently. There isn’t a simple “bad / good / better” answer, it’s a bit more complicated than that. In the description below, I’ll try to concentrate on what molders really need to know, so my description could be viewed by some polymer chemists as a bit superficial. Others may think it’s over-complicated… I’ve tried to steer a middle way!
Butene and hexene (strictly speaking: butene-1 and hexene-1) are examples of comonomers that are used during the production of different polyethylene (PE) grades, including roto grades. They do essentially the same thing for PE, but their presence can cause some differences in grade performance. Continue reading
Question: What are typical heating cooling cycles compared between XLPE and PE?
Dr. Nick Henwood
Dr. Nick: Crosslinkable polyethylene (XLPE) rotomolding grades work in a different way to standard linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) grades.
During the cook stage of rotomolding standard PE grades, two separate things need to be achieved:
During the cook stage of rotomolding XLPE grades, the above two mechanisms need to be achieved, followed by another additional one:
The requirements for individual XLPE grades may vary, but one general recommendation that I have seen is that, during the final stages of cooking, the IAT should be above 390 degF for several minutes. An additional processing benefit of the best XLPE grades is that over-cooking does not result in the usual catastrophic loss of impact strength due to chain scission.
I recommend that, if possible, you set up your cook cycles for XLPE using a device that can measure IAT and that you follow the guidelines above, in the absence of anything more specific from your material supplier. A more rough-and-ready guideline might be to add two or three minutes on to the cook cycle you would use for standard PE,
However –
Depending on the formulation, over-cooking XLPE can result in some undesirable effects, that you will want to avoid. One common effect is known as coining – the appearance of a locally depressed area on the surface of the part, as though a large coin had been pressed into the surface while the polymer was soft. Reducing the oven temperature is the usual expedient to eliminate such defects, but then you may affect crosslinking. Hence my main recommendation, to use available control tools to achieve as much precision in set-up as you possibly can.
Hope that helps; happy rotomolding!
Dr Nick Henwood serves as the Technical Director for the Association of Rotational Molders. He has more than 30 years of experience in rotomolding, specializing in the fields of materials development and process control. He operates as a consultant, researcher and educator through his own company, Rotomotive Limited, based in UK.
Dr. Nick Henwood
As part of ARM’s on-going commitment to member service, we are ramping up our webinar program for 2020. The latest webinar was presented on March 19 by Dr Gareth McDowell of 493K. I thoroughly recommend that, if you missed the live show, you catch up with it on the ARM website.
Many of you will be familiar with Dr Gareth’s lively presentation style from his many presentations at ARM conferences. He was able to bring this approach to the very different format of an on-line event and, as a result, we saw a high level of reaction from the live audience, in terms of comments and questions.
Unfortunately, we simply ran out of time to address everyone’s needs, so I’m doing a wrap-up via my Technical Director’s Blog. The length of my Blog reflects the number of questions, but feel free to dip in and out of it, if you don’t have time for a long read!
Thanks again to Gareth for a really excellent webinar. Continue reading
