Born to Run…GCMS & DMA
Running shoe technology has come a long way since Bill Bowerman, a running coach at the University of Oregon, first made prototypes by melting rubber into treads with a waffle iron in the 1960s, starting what would become Nike. As material technology improved, along with capabilities in analyzing running kinematics and physiology, shoe designs have […]
What Plastic to Use in Your Medical Device?
The selection of a polymer for a medical device requires careful thought and knowledge of both the plastic and the target application, and how each will respond to the other. The range of choices of polymers for medical applications continue to increase as resin manufacturers synthesize novel homopolymers and copolymers, compounders create polymer blends and […]
CPG Receives ISO 17025 Accreditation
Cambridge Polymer Group is pleased to announce ISO/IEC 17025:2005 accreditation by the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA). ISO/IEC 17025:2005 is the international standard by which a testing laboratory’s commitment to quality and technical competence is evaluated. ISO 17025 includes ISO 9001 standards and adds higher level requirements, specific to testing laboratories. CPG underwent a […]
Mad as a March Basketball
Every spring, Americans fall victim to a syndrome known as “March Madness.” Early onset symptoms include a loss of interest in regular activities, coupled with racing thoughts about the NCAA. Later stages are marked by a craving for CollegeHoopsNet.com posts, obsessive bracket picking, and frequent betting in office pools. Final stage is incessant streaming of […]
CPG Researchers Receive Hip Replacement Positioning Patent
CPG researchers, along with orthopedic surgeons from the Massachusetts General Hospital, received a U.S. patent for a low cost navigation system designed to assist surgeons in aligning the acetabular cup used in hip replacement surgeries. The USTPO issued the patent as number 9,554,731. Hip replacements now have a possible life expectancy of over 20 years, […]
The Technology of Football Helmets
We continue our discussion of polymers in sports equipment by looking at football helmets. The well-publicized dangers of head injuries have put helmet design back in the forefront of sports equipment manufacturers. Modern day football helmets bear little resemblance to the original leather helmets first introduced in the early 1900s. These leather helmets had no […]
Get Rich to Avoid Infections
The Antimicrobial Properties of Silver The phrase ‘blue bloods’ is associated with nobility or wealthy upper class. The etymology of the phrase has a few sources. One is that the pale skin associated with a non-laboring class of citizens allowed the blue veins to be better observed. A second, and more scientifically intriguing, source is […]
Antisocial Polymers
Social scientists have opined that social behavior is influenced both by environment and genetic makeup, the latter relating to our body chemistry. Interestingly, many polymers’ resistance to cracking follows these same two influences. Whereas some cracking results from excessive loads, or from thermal or UV degradation, a large percentage of plastic part failure results from […]
PET for Pets
Some of Cambridge Polymer Group’s staff spent last Friday’s lunch hour working with polymers for a good cause. Unlike our usual analytical testing and contract R&D, this particular work did not require a lab. We braided polyethylene terephthalate (PET) into dog toys for PetsEmpower, a non-profit that fosters and reunites pets with survivors of domestic […]
Cooling Polymer Sheets
Warming from the sun occurs through the absorption of visible light and infrared light into materials whose molecular groups become energized at specific wavelengths, and the material warms. These molecules then can lose the energy by emitting it at different wavelengths, often in the infrared spectrum, cooling the material. Passive Cooling Creating surfaces that do […]