Hello and welcome to new post in which we discuss one of my plastic part failure studies answering the question: Why did the toy helicopter rotor blades keep breaking?
Ever had a toy fail at the worst possible moment? That’s what happened with a rescue helicopter toy—kids reported the rotor blades snapping during “harder” rescue missions, always at the same spot. As someone who knows the pain of ordering spare parts, I had to dig deeper!
Here’s what I found:
Root Cause: The blades, made from ABS, consistently broke at the injection point—a natural weak spot. When force was applied (think: enthusiastic play!), stress concentrated here, causing failure.
Why Always the Same Spot? The injection point acts like a weak link in a fixed beam. Too much stress, and snap—it breaks right there (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Broken toy helicopter blade - injection molding point as root cause identified.
How to Fix It?
1. Move the Injection Point: Shift it to the blade’s center using a conical gate, ensuring even filling and less stress (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Moving the injection point to the center allowing for even filling of both blade sides.
2. Upgrade the Material: Switch to glass fiber reinforced ABS, increasing the needed force to break the rotor blade by 43% (Figure 3)!
Figure 3: Changing from ABS to ABS+GF10 increases the needed force to break the blade.
3. Combine Both Approaches: For maximum durability.
This is a great reminder: optimal injection molded parts require attention to all five points of the Polymer Product Pentagram—Part Design, Material Selection, Mold Design, Machine Selection, and Molding Process.
Have you faced similar failures? Let’s connect here and share solutions!
Hello and welcome to my Polycarbonate Market Review 2025, discussing innovation, growth, and global shifts
Polycarbonate (PC) remains a cornerstone material for modern industry, prized for high impact resistance, optical clarity, and versatility. From automotive and medical to digital electronics and construction, PC and its blends continue to enable the megatrends that define our time.
Why this matters: As global supply chains reset and sustainability moves center stage, the PC market is undergoing meaningful change. In 2024, global PC (including blends) surpassed 5.2 million tons for the first time, and a steady ~4% CAGR is expected— with China and India likely to outpace the global average.
A Material Built for Modern Demands
Pure Polycarbonate offers a rare combination of toughness, transparency, and heat resistance. Its versatility accelerates further through PC blends such as PC+ABS, PC+ASA, PC+PBT, and PC+PET, delivering improved impact performance, heat resistance, stiffness, and chemical durability.
Across digitalization, new mobility, and medical technology, PC and PC blends provide the reliability, design freedom, and performance required for next-generation products.
Market Overview: Recovery Amid Headwinds
Despite structural strengths, producers faced lower demand in recent years and intense competition that pressured prices and margins. European manufacturers contended with higher electricity and gas costs, further tightening profitability.
Even so, momentum is building. The market crossed the 5 million ton threshold in 2024 (5.2 Mt), and forward growth near 4% annually is expected— with faster expansion in China and India.
Global Leaders and Capacity
Two companies account for 40%+ of global PC capacity:
Covestro
Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC)
New Chinese entrants—Wanhua Chemical and Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical (ZPC)—are scaling rapidly, while established players such as Mitsubishi Chemical and Lotte Chemical remain influential.
Capacity and Consumption Snapshot (2024)
Production capacity: Asia-Pacific 70% (5.5 Mt; China 3.5 Mt), EMEA 20% (1.4 Mt), Americas 10% (0.8 Mt).
End-market usage: Asia-Pacific (incl. China) 70%, EMEA 17%, North & South America 13%. China is the largest single market.
China: The Powerhouse of Growth
China increased PC polymerization plants from 5 (2015) to 17, with exports rising from 250,000 t/y to 500,000 t/y. Notable capacity additions:
Pingmei Shenma – 100 kt/y, with plans to expand to 400 kt/y
Europe: Capacity Contraction and Import Reliance
Trinseo ceased PC production in Stade, Germany; SABIC closed two lines in Cartagena, Spain by end-2023 (now ~130 kt/y). Since 2023, Europe has been the largest net importer of PC, highlighting competitiveness and energy-cost challenges.
The Americas and India: Stability and Ascent
In the U.S., PC production remains stable: SABIC (Indiana, Alabama), Covestro (Texas), and Trinseo (PC compounding). India grew from 125 kt/y (2015) to 300 kt/y. A key milestone: Deepak Chem Tech (DCTL) added 165 kt/y of capacity using Trinseo technology and repurposed equipment from the closed Stade plant—an example of efficient global tech transfer.
Where Polycarbonate Shines: End-Use Segments (2024)
Electrical & Electronics (E&E): 35%
Automotive: 20%
Construction: 15%
Consumer goods: 10%
Medical, optics, sports, toys, packaging: 20%
Recycling and the Road to Circularity
Three primary routes are advancing PC circularity:
Mechanical recycling – efficient for clean, post-industrial streams.
Chemical recycling – restoring virgin-like quality; active programs at Covestro, LG Chem, Mitsubishi Chemical, and Wanhua Chemical.
Solvent-based recycling – selectively extracts PC from mixed waste; Trinseo’s Terneuzen (NL) pilot, 2023, demonstrates promising results.
Key Data of the Polycarbonate Market Review [1]
Outlook: Resilient and Essential
Despite margin pressure and regional disparities, Polycarbonate remains strategic to innovation in mobility, electronics, healthcare, and sustainable infrastructure. With ongoing capacity investments, stronger Asian supply, and accelerating recycling technologies, the PC market is positioned for steady growth and meaningful transformation in 2025 and beyond.
Hello and welcome to a new blogpost. When you hear “wombat,” you might picture a sturdy little marsupial from Australia. But in the world of plastics engineering, Wombat stands for something else entirely:
Waste of Money, Bandwidth, and Time.
And it’s a concept every polymer professional should keep top of mind.
Wombat in the world of plastics engineering.
Why Wombat Matters in Plastics
In our fast-paced industry, it’s easy to get sidetracked by shiny new technologies, endless data, or meetings that lead nowhere. But every minute and euro spent on non-essential activities is a minute and euro not spent on what really matters: making perfect plastic parts.
Wombat is a reminder to ask ourselves:
Are we investing in tools and processes that actually improve quality and efficiency?
Is this meeting, report, or project moving us closer to our production goals?
Are we focusing on root causes, or just treating symptoms?
Applying Wombat Thinking to the Plastics World
Let’s look at a few practical examples:
Material Selection: Don’t over-specify or under-specify. Choose the right polymer for the job, not the most expensive or the one with the flashiest datasheet.
Process Optimization: Focus on parameters that truly impact part quality—like melt temperature, cooling time, and pressure—rather than chasing every minor variable.
Troubleshooting: When defects arise, use data-driven root cause analysis. Don’t waste time on guesswork or “just try it” fixes.
The Payoff: Perfect Parts, Less Waste
By keeping Wombat in mind, you’ll streamline your operations, reduce scrap, and deliver higher-quality parts—without burning through resources. It’s about working smarter, not harder.
So next time you’re faced with a decision, ask yourself: Is this a Wombat? If it is, steer clear and refocus on what truly drives success in plastics manufacturing.
Let’s leave the wombats in the wild—and keep our operations lean, focused, and efficient!
Hello and welcome to a new blog post in which I want to share a story that changed the way of thinking about cost-saving in manufacturing:
Ratio projects
Not long ago, I was sitting across the table from a customer who was laser-focused on one thing: lowering material costs for an injection-moulded part. He was convinced that if we could just supply a cheaper material, his problems would be solved.
But as our technical team and I examined the part and the moulding operations together, something caught our eye. The runner and sprue—the channels that guide the molten polymer into the mould—were enormous. In fact, they were much bigger than the part itself! Imagine pouring a glass of water and spilling twice as much on the table as you actually get in the glass. That’s what was happening here.
Instead of just talking about material prices, we rolled up our sleeves and worked side by side with the customer. We reimagined the entire gating system, redesigning the part and the tooling. It was a true collaboration, blending expertise and creativity.
The result? We didn’t just shave a few cents off the material cost. We cut the total cost by 50%. Half! Not by using a cheaper material, but by using our knowledge to optimize the design and the process (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Optimizing the sprue and gating of an injection mold as part of a ratio project.
The customer was amazed. He realized that the real savings came not from squeezing suppliers for lower prices, but from looking at the bigger picture—design, tooling, and production.
This experience taught us all a powerful lesson: sometimes, the answer isn’t in the price tag of the material, but in the ingenuity we bring to the table. When we focus only on material costs, we risk missing out on much greater opportunities for improvement.
So next time you’re tempted to chase the lowest material price, remember—true value comes from partnership, innovation, and seeing the whole picture.
