【正文】 the ideal material for applications such as the thermal imaging camera case and firefighter helmets shown below. The National Plastics Center and Museum is a nonprofit institution dedicated to preserving the past, addressing the present, and promoting the future of plastics. Incorporated in 1982, the NPCM offers a rich and diverse experience for visitors of all ages. The center and museum is located off route 117 in Leominster, Massachusetts, a town rich in plastics history. In fact, Leominster is said to be the ―birthplace‖ of the plastics industry. The Milacron Corporation was the first injection molding machinery manufacturer to offer an ―ALL ELECTRIC‖ injection molding machine. The unique ACT machine series was developed jointly with the Fanuc Corporation and was introduced in 1985. Every machine function was controlled by a separate electric servomotor (rather than hydraulics). These revolutionary molding machines offered unprecedented precision and energy efficiency pared to their conventional hydraulic counterparts. Today, more than 35% of the molding machines Milacron Ferromatic sells are ―ALL ELECTRIC‖. The emerging field of ―Micro Injection Molding‖ is in its infancy today. In recent years, injection molding machinery suppliers have started to manufacture very small scale molding machines, having clamp tonnages as low as three tons and shot capacities less than a gram. Now that this equipment is available, microscopic plastic parts can be manufactured with unprecedented precision. The micro molded plastic medical parts shown on the left below are molded by Miniature Tool and Die in Charlton, MA and weigh just grams each. The Micro Injection Molding Lab at UMass Lowell’s Plastics Engineering Department is sponsored by Sumitomo Plastics Machinery. In the mid 1980’s, General Motors Chairman Roger Smith set out to “rethink” the way automobiles were designed and manufactured. Working with a clean slate, GM rethought everything from marketing to materials of construction to manufacturing. Plastics played a large roll in this effort. The new automobile, the Saturn, was the very first passenger vehicle to make extensive use of injection molded “thermoplastics” for exterior body panels. Most of the Saturn’s body panels are molded from a blend of polycarbonate and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (PC/ABS). The use of the PC/ABS gave designers much greater design freedom when pared to traditional sheet metal body panels. The PC/ABS body is also, lightweight, corrosion resistant and durable. The very first Saturn was driven out of the Spring Hill Tennessee assembly plant by Roger Smith himself on July 30, 1990. More than million Saturns have been produced since that time. Plastics have been used for telephone housings since the turn of the last century. The early black plastic phones were pression molded from thermosetting phenolic and had wall thicknesses up to 13 mm. Injection molded ABS phones were introduced in the 1950’s. ABS has a very high gloss, good impact resistance, and unlike phenolic, could be molded in a variety of different colors. The ABS phones had wall thicknesses of about 3 mm. Today’s cell phones are injection molded using a polycarbonate amp。 has dozens of important applications, including radial tire cord, brake pads, racing boat sails, aircraft ponents, and suspension bridge cables. Stephanie Kwolek Over the years, Battenfeld Gloucester, formerly Gloucester Engineering, has been responsible for a number of innovations related to film extrusion, especially in the area of multilayer film extrusion. The blown film extrusion process, such as that shown above, is used to produce everything from food packaging to agricultural film. The pany is also the sponsor of the Battenfeld Gloucester Film Extrusion Laboratory here at UMass Lowell. In the 1974, Edward Klobbie, a plastics process engineer from the Netherlands, developed a process that could be used to manufacture “plastic lumber” from waste post consumer plastic packaging. Plastic lumber can be manufactured from a variety of waste streams, however, it is most monly produced using post consumer HDPE milk or detergent bottles. Wood fiber or saw dust is often added to the plastic lumber as a reinforcing filler. Plastic lumber offers a number of advantages for outdoor applications where it petes with pressure treated wood lumber. Plastics lumber is used for applications such as porches or decks, park benches, landscape timbers, and even railroad ties. It is rot proof, durable, and virtually maintenance free. The Moldflow Corporation revolutionized the plastic part and mold design fields when it introduced “Injection Molding Simulation” software in 1978. Founded in Australia by Colin Austin, Moldflow was the first pany to produce software that allowed plastics engineers to optimize the design of their parts and molds before “cutting steel”. Moldflow, now headquartered in Wayland, MA is dedicated to improving the Design to Manufacture Process for injection molded plastic parts. Polyurethane could be the most versatile plastics available today. A polyurethane is formed by reacting a polyol (an alcohol with more than two reactive hydroxyl groups per molecule) with a diisocyanate or a polymeric isocyanate in the presence of suitable catalysts and additives. Polyurethanes can be molded, extruded, or cast, and are available as foams, coatings, specialty adhesives and sealants. The flexible and durable vertical body panels of the Pontiac Fierro were reaction injection molded polyurethane. The first artificial replacement heart, the Jarvic7, was produced from a flexible and fatigue resistant polyurethane. The toughness and abrasion resistance of polyurethane make it an ideal material for applicat