Recreating the end-user manufacturing process at lab scale enabled ChemQuest Technology Institute to determine the impact of a client’s formulation change.
The Challenge
A manufacturer of materials used for the molding of composite materials was experiencing supply chain problems that impacted a series of high-performance products.
In order to alleviate these unnecessary challenges and streamline their production, the company was looking to change the formula. The client lacked the ability to test the downstream effects that these changes would have on the end-user experience, so they reached out to the ChemQuest Technology Institute (CQTI) for assistance.
Replicating the Manufacturing Process
The scientists at CQTI began by recreating the end-user application process for a molded component:
- In order to test the new materials for end-user performance, we recreated the molding process from beginning to end.
- This included building a mold-positive, a new mold, and then molded components from the mold.
- We introduced the client’s new formulations during the molding process to produce representative molded composite parts.
The team then developed real-world data:
- The effects of the new formula on the mold quality were evaluated and compared to the original formulation.
- A scoring matrix and set of performance tests were conducted to quantify the differences between the new formula and the old formula.
The Results
CQTI’s replication of the end-user process and the production of real-world molded components demonstrated to the client that the new formula would produce unfavorable components.
This understanding allowed the company to reformulate and retest to ensure that existing customers wouldn’t experience a negative change when they adopted the new product, thus supporting a positive user experience and avoiding disgruntled customers.