Plastopedia

Six week-old Kaiba Gionfriddo was out at a restaurant with his family, when he stopped breathing and started turning blue. It turned out that he had a severe form of tracheobronchomalacia, a rare condition in which the trachea collapses due to flaccid supporting cartilage.

Germany-based chemicals company BASF has extended its compostable and partially bio-based Ecovio range of plastics with new grades suited to thermoforming and injection moulding.

BASF’s Ecovio T2308 grade exhibits similar mechanical properties to those of amorphous PET, and will now be available for the production of thermoformed trays and cups.

Researchers from MIT and Harvard University have teamed up to design a 3D printed robot that can crawl like an inchworm and can assemble itself when given a jolt of electricity.

Three-D printing technology is a game changer in the arts and crafts world. “It really takes the lid off of what's possible,” said Andrej Suskavcevic, president and CEO of the Craft and Hobby Association, in Elmwood Park, N.J. “It seems to me it'll provide a really good bridge between technology and hands-on crafting.”

DuPont celebrated the silver anniversary of its global packaging awards program Thurs. night, May 16, granting top honors to U.K.-based design firm pi 3 for AidPod, which delivers life-saving medicine to remote sub-Saharan villages. This unique packaging and distribution program captured the premier Diamond and the Special 25th Anniversary "Food Security" award.

At the UPV/EHU's Polytechnical College of San Sebastian they are working with particles that act like quantum dots, specifically with cadmium and selenium composite nanoparticles. One of the characteristics of quantum dots is that the optical and electrical properties of the particle vary according to size.

Inland Label's MAXX Scoop IML label family beat out 231 entries from packaging suppliers and graphic design firms throughout North America to win the GOLD PAC Leadership Award at the Packaging Association of Canada's (PAC) biannual Awards Gala held in Mississauga, ON.

China's large toy industry, including its plastics-related toy makers, faces potentially stepped up scrutiny on safety and factory working conditions.

The latest prototype car from SIM-Drive Corporation, a pioneering electric vehicle developer in Japan, features DSM’s Stanyl® and EcoPaXX® based parts that make the car lighter and more sustainable.

A clear PET package made from 100% recycled material that displays the fresh, Nellie’s Nest brand of Certified Humane, cage-free eggs from Pete & Gerry’s Organics has taken on a new level of transparency.

PORTLAND — Next month, political leaders in Maine's largest city will consider implementing a ban on the commercial use of all polystyrene packaging -- better known by the brand name Styrofoam.

Efforts to feed a growing population involve every aspect of the “farm-to-fork” value chain. DuPont, which believes collaboration stimulates insights and action, asked packaging thought leaders to discuss how packaging can play a more critical role in ensuring food safety and security.

Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles Pvt. Ltd. has launched its long-awaited Mahindra e20 on March 18. The model, which weighs about 830 kilograms, uses about 80 kilograms of plastic.

When General Motors CEO Dan Akerson vowed earlier this month to cut the weight of new models 15 percent by the 2016 model year, he put his engineers on a rigorous schedule.

Carbon fiber has finally broken out of its European supercar niche.The 2013 SRT Viper and the redesigned 2014 Chevrolet Corvette have carbon fiber hoods and other parts, and the Corvette's production is likely to top 20,000 units this year.

In my role as an analyst who helps clients find new business opportunities in emerging technologies, I have scouted a wide range of advanced materials that span the “innovation funnel,” from the invention and prototyping stages all the way through production. For the automotive and aerospace markets, both of which are dynamically expanding, my firm has targeted several technologies: carbon fiber composites, nanocrystalline metals, such as magnesium, and — in my opinion, the dark horse — additive manufacturing.

Big automakers are acting way too cautious to meet the 2025 deadline to average 54.5 mpg, according to pioneering light-car designers.

If that’s the average, it means car fleets are going to need some models that get many more miles per gallon. And it isn’t easy, said Oliver Kuttner, founder and CEO of Edison2, which developed a gasoline-engine car that can top 100 mpg and won $5 million in Progressive Insurance’s Automotive X Prize in 2010.

Previously, flexible circuits have had a limited performance threshold due to plastic substrates being incompatible with the harsh processes required to make high-performance CMOS devices.