To preview all available dates and pricing - and to check for any Early Bird discounts - click 'Register' above.
Course dates - click register to select dates
- 9 Dec 24 - 6 Jan 25
- 17 Feb - 17 Mar 25
- 12 May - 09 Jun 25
- 21 Jul - 18 Aug 25
- 20 Oct -17 Nov 25
- We also run this course as an in-person event
Course details and format
- 4 hours of recorded modules available
- Live Q&A after the course
Online training: How it works
- Same course content as our in-person course
- 4 hours of expert training delivered via recorded modules hosted online - allowing you to study at a time that suits you
- 28 days access to recordings allowing you to learn at your own pace
- Same high quality Smithers' training experience
- No travel costs or complexities
- Live Q&A with course tutors - ask questions and consolidate learning
- Electronic copies of course notes
Overview
The role of plastic and rubber materials in engineering applications is becoming more demanding:
- Light weighting and metal replacement puts higher stress on polymers.
- Extreme temperatures and chemical environments can also have dramatic effects on the long term behaviour of the materials.
This course provides an overview of the long-term properties of plastics and rubber and how to take account of this behaviour in design and testing.
Click on register and choose a date at the next step.
Learning outcomes
- A basic understanding of long term behaviour of plastics and rubber
- An appreciation of how service conditions can affect material behaviour
- Knowledge of how to effectively test materials to determine long-term properties
- The use of acceleration techniques to predict the expected service life of the material and component
- Improved confidence in generation and use of design data
Gain CPD credits
Smithers is an IOM3 Quality Assured training provider and our courses are approved towards professional development.
Course content
Introduction to polymer types and their behaviour
- Understand how polymer structure affects the properties of the material and the differences between rubbers and plastics.
Long-term behaviour and the effects on durability
- Overview of various mechanisms responsible for loss of performance.
- Effects such as viscoelasticity; chemical and thermal ageing; combination effects such as ESC.
Evaluation of long-term durability
- Review of methods used to test and evaluate the long-term performance of plastics and rubbers.
- Typical ageing techniques and testing methods including creep, relaxation, fatigue along with chemical degradation techniques.
Life prediction and accelerated testing
Since real-life testing is impractical due to the long timescales required, it is common that accelerated methods are used:
- Introduction to methodologies used to accelerate long-term testing along with life prediction methods such as Arrhenius and time-temperature superposition.
- How to use accelerated material test data for design purposes and for validation of accelerated product tests.
Plastic and rubber durability examples
- Example case studies of designing with long term properties in mind and the generating of relevant accelerated test data.
Who will benefit?
This course will benefit anyone looking to design or develop plastic and rubber components that will be operating in arduous conditions during their service life. Understanding long-term data generation and its effective use will give increased confidence in product performance and minimise the risk of failure.Presenter information
This course is presented by: You can read more about our presenters by clicking on their expert profiles.What our delegates say about the course material
"I enjoyed it and learnt a lot about durability and failures of plastics"Sam Dainton (Raymarine)
"Lots of technical detail but informative"
Darren Boden (Raymarine)