The systematic path to dimensionally stable plastic components: Differentiation of acceptance dimensions and utilization dimensions

摘要

With regard to their dimension-related properties, plastics and metals differ greatly from each other. The special properties of plastics, such as lower stiffness and significantly greater thermal expansion as well as shrinkage and warpage effects that take place over long periods of time, must be taken into account in functional design if dimensionally stable and thus properly functioning plastic molded parts are to result. First of all, the various causes of and influencing factors behind the dimensional changes in a plastic component that take place between production of the molded part and its utilization are presented and discussed, as too their developments over time.