North Central State College

Plastics Technician Training

All candidates must earn the Plastics Technician Certificate prior to completing the Blown-Film Technician Certificate and/or Injection Molding Certificate.

Plastics Technician Training

  • This introductory course provides an overview of the Plastics Industry, including common materials and processes.  Topics include the many types of career opportunities in the industry, inciting individual interest-based exploration.  Discussion also covers the nature of plastic product manufacturers, including size, work environment, and typical processes used.

    The 10 main topics cover the following areas:

    • History of plastics
    • Current status of industry
    • Elementary polymer chemistry
    • Health and safety practices
    • Elementary statistics
    • Propertied and tests of selected plastic resins
    • Ingredients/additives for plastics
    • Molding processes
    • Extrusion
    • Laminating processes and materials

  • This introductory course introduces the principles of structure, properties, and applications of polymeric materials with an emphasis on polyethylene resins and other select resins.

    Topics include:

    • The nature of polymers
    • Polymers synthesis
    • Formulation, and structure property relationships
    • A general review of polymer film processing
    • A general review of specialized equipment and performance testing

  • This laboratory course provides a hands-on approach to several polymer-processing techniques with an emphasis on blown film and injection molding processes.

    Topics and laboratory experience for blown film include:

    • An overview of blown film process
    • Film line parts and operation
    • Safety and start-up operations
    • Material changes during film forming
    • Controlling the film gage/thickness
    • Changing the screen packing
    • Resolving Bubble Collapsing phenomena

    Topics and laboratory experience for injection molding include

    • Overview of the injection molding machine
    • Molding process parameter
    • Troubleshooting the molding process
    • Mold set-up
    • Establishing process parameters
    • Process optimization and troubleshooting

  • This course covers the introduction to polymers/plastics materials.

    Topics include:

    • The nature of polymer materials
    • Molecular engineering, including structure-property relationship and molecular mass distribution
    • Manufacturing of monomers, including polymerization process
    • Physical properties of polymers, including behavior of polymers and viscoelasticity of polymers
    • Manufacturing and process methods

Blown Film Technician

  • This advanced course covers the detailed blown film extrusion process, including blwn film line hardware and operations.

    The laboratory topics include:

    • Line start-up and operation utilizing LDPE and HDPE
    • Adjusting process conditions to obtain various film gages and QC measurements
    • Identification resolution of common take-off issues

Injection Molding Certificate

  • This advanced course covers injection molding theory and application of consumer goods.  Topics include development of part microstructure, the molecular level process from pellet to part, and the analysis of current trends in technology and consumer preference.

    Laboratory topics include:

    • Set-up and operation of injection molding machines
    • Troubleshooting of part defects and dimensional problems