Cambridge Polymer Group :: Material Selection

Material Selection Assistance: Optimizing Your Product Design

Selecting the right material is crucial for successful product design. Polymers offer a vast array of properties, making them an excellent choice for many applications. However, choosing the optimal formulation requires in-depth knowledge of processing methods, stability, and performance characteristics.

Polymer Diversity

Polymeric materials encompass a wide spectrum of options:

Rigid materials like UHMWPE and PEEK
Flexible options such as TPEs, films, and woven constructs
Soft materials including rubbers and hydrogels

The polymer landscape continues to expand with:

Novel homopolymers and copolymers from resin manufacturers
New polymer blends and additive packages from compounders
Innovative finishing processes like crosslinking and surface treatments

How We Can Help

Whether you are:

Designing a new product with unique performance requirements
Exploring novel applications for existing concepts
Upgrading component specifications to improve material performance
Seeking an equivalent material from a different vendor

Cambridge Polymer Group has the expertise to assist you in making the right choice..

Beyond Basic Specifications

It is often the case that basic specifications are known. For example, the task may be to determine a similar replacement material or alternate vendor, or to match the specifications of an established material. Basic specifications often include physical properties like durometer hardness, tensile strength, impact strength, and modulus and processing related parameters such as melt flow index or rate (MFI or MFR), and these are readily found in Certificates of Analysis (CoA) or manufacturer property sheets. However, there are numerous other properties that are not outlined in standard specification sheets which may have a profound impact on the successful long-term performance of your product, including:

Chemical resistance
Thermal resistance
Creep and compression set
Environmental stress cracking (ESC) resistance
Abrasion and wear resistance
Fatigue life
UV resistance
Extractable & Leachables for biocompatibility
Time and temperature response

The above list gives insight into the potential complexity of polymers in use. The benefit of these materials is often derived from their ability to interact with the environment more effectively than a metal would. However, this ability also leads to weaknesses in that these materials are more sensitive to their environment and can present issues if not selected carefully. Compatibility with contact materials, bond strength during addition, and thermal changes can all affect the material’s ability to function. In addition, manufacturing, cleaning and sterilization can result in changes in the material that can change their service or shelf-life.

Our Expertise in Material Selection

Successful selection of the correct material for a specific application requires a deep understanding of the underlying polymer science of that material. Only with this specific understanding will the choice avoid the potential failure modes of that material in your product and its end-use. CPG’s extensive experience and deep knowledge of the failure pathways for polymers allows us to help you select materials that avoid these pitfalls.

Material Selection Validation

Our broad range of clients and personal backgrounds mean that we have a unique capability not only in determining the material you need, based on your specific requirements, but also in validating that choice through standardized tests or custom tests tailored to your application. When a client goes beyond material specification sheets, the choices are often the result of computer simulation of your product design in its target application area. When material behavior inputs for simulation are not known, CPG can perform testing to provide inputs for your finite element analysis constitutive model and validate those choices once implemented.

Our expertise spans various industries, including biomedical, consumer products, energy, aerospace, and automotive.

By combining our broad industry experience with our physical, chemical and mechanical understanding of materials and applications, we serve as an invaluable resource for both new material selection and replacement of existing materials.