Plastics Product Design

This book is aimed at designers who have had limited or no experience with plastics materials as well as a more experienced designer who is designing a part for a use, process or an application that they are not familiar with. The reader is provided with an introduction to plastics as a design material and a discussion of materials commonly in use today. There is a discussion of a variety of processes available to the designer to make a part along with the design considerations each process will entail. This section also includes a discussion of useful prototyping processes, including advantages and disadvantages of each.

Next, the book will discuss general design considerations applicable to most plastics product designs.

In section 2 of the book the author will discuss elements of design of a number of generic plastic product types based on his 40+ years of experience of product design and development for a several companies with a variety of products. This section will include discussions of structural components, gears, bearings, hinges, snap fits, packaging, pressure vessels, and optical components. This section will discuss the general considerations that apply to these applications as well as specific incites about each particular application. The book concludes with a discussion of the general design process.

Paul Mastro has worked in the plastics industry for over 40 years in a variety of capacities including corporate officer of a major international company, international experience and managerial positions in engineering, R&D, operations and marketing. He started two grass roots manufacturing operations. Paul currently is the principal of Paul Mastro LLC and provides expertise in plastics materials, manufacturing productivity, product innovation, and tool design and acquisition support. He also teaches courses in plastics engineering for the University of Arkansas in Little Rock and has made a number of webinars and presentations on plastics processing. Paul holds a number of patents on innovative processes and product designs.