Facilities & Equipment

plastics students in lab

Facilities & Equipment

Hands-on workshops held in the University's state-of-the-art labs supplement classroom instruction.

The Department of Plastics Engineering is constantly reorganizing and upgrading its state-of-the-art laboratory space. At the present time, the department has nine individual laboratory rooms, each dedicated to a specific activity or purpose. Almost all of the plastics laboratories have undergone complete renovations and have been stocked with new state-of-the-art plastics processing or testing equipment. This has been a multimillion dollar project that could only have been accomplished with the assistance and support of industry and alumni.

Labs

  • Autodesk-Moldflow Simulation Laboratory
  • Dynisco Plastics Rheological Properties Laboratory
  • Engel Injection Molding Laboratory
  • Leistritz Extrusion Laboratory
  • Mark A. Saab '81 Advanced Polymers Properties Testing Laboratory
  • Moldex3D Simulation Laboratory
  • Putnam Plastics S. J. Chen Extrusion Laboratory
  • Rocheleau Blow Molding Laboratory
  • Wittmann Battenfeld Precision Injection Molding Laboratory

Major Processing Equipment

  • Injection molding machines with capacities from of 3-135 tons
  • Extrusion lines for pipe, tubing, blown film, flat film and sheet, and fiber
  • Multiple co-rotating twin screw extruders and quad screw extruder
  • Extrusion and injection stretch blow molding machines
  • Thermoformer
  • Rotational molder
  • Equipment for mixing, extruding, and injection molding thermoset rubber
  • Ultrasonic welders

Characterization

  • Universal testing machines
  • Charpy, Izod, and instrumented impact testers
  • Equipment for testing hardness and abrasion
  • Differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, and dynamic mechanical analysis
  • Capillary rheometer, rotational, and torque rheometers as well as melt indexers
  • Microscopy and image analysis systems

Software

  • Autodesk-Moldflow
  • Moldex3D
  • ANSYS
  • Ludovic
  • SolidWorks®
  • Polyflow

To view the UMass Lowell's Plastics Engineering Department and facilities, visit the Plastics Engineering website. For additional information on the facilities or equipment, please contact the Department of Plastics Engineering at (978) 934-3420.