3M SPE Virtual MTE Day

This is a one-hour course, but we have an additional 30 minutes in the schedule in case questions go longer.

The mechanical properties of plastics will vary depending on the temperature. Significant changes in short-term properties such as strength and ductility, as well as long-term properties including creep and fatigue can be observed, even over a relatively small range. This instability is due to the inherent molecular structure of polymeric materials and the resulting viscoelasticity. Having a very different structure, metals do not exhibit this type of behavior, and the variation in plastics can be overlooked. Many applications expose plastic components to temperatures above and below ambient. In order to avoid failure, it is important to understand how the properties will change across the use range.