Mathematical Modeling Adds Up to Big Payoffs for Epoxy Customers

Improve product quality, reduce production and design costs, and speed up time-to-market. These are important results epoxy users are getting by taking advantage of mathematical modeling capabilities from Dow Epoxy.

Instead of performing the gel tests on the hotplates, Dow Epoxy uses DOW™ eCURE - a powerful suite of highly sophisticated, Dow-proprietary modeling programs - to examine and reshape a resin's molecular architecture to create new resins and troubleshoot projects using existing products.

Accelerating and exhilarating
The suite does in days or weeks what might have taken years (and uncounted funds) to accomplish with traditional methods. Technical leader Asjad Shafi quotes a surprised and exhilarated customer for whom Dow Epoxy solved a series of complex production issues: "He said to us, 'If I had to do this by trial and error, it would have taken me two years. You gave me my answers in days.'"

Another customer was producing a molded part on a production line that was running at 15 inches per minute. DOW eCURE calculations indicated that the production speed could be more than doubled. When the model was tested in production, the accelerated line produced good results on the first run.

Solving problems quickly AND cost-effectively
"One of our customers had a two-stage process that used an epoxy as an adhesive that had to hold its tack for shaping and then cure in a second processing step," Shafi explains.

"The customer's regular supplier proposed a faster formulation, but it still didn't work properly. By modeling the process under a series of time-temperature parameters, we showed that changing the process conditions, instead of the epoxy, would produce the desired results. This eliminated the need for a new, more expensive epoxy formulation."

DOW eCURE is also being used to predict thermo-mechanical properties of new formulations for a variety of new applications. This saves numerous hours of lab work in casting plaques and testing them. 

Making the impossible, possible
Often, the formulations, process conditions and other recommendations resulting from DOW eCURE are considered "impossible."

The mathematical modeling group within Dow has learned to accept this initial reaction. They know better, with over five years of experience using DOW eCURE to develop accurate, practical and highly profitable solutions for customers.

Getting answers from Dow in many ways
DOW eCURE isn't the only way to answers. In fact, Dow usually only chooses DOW eCURE for problem-solving when issues are very complex and require advanced modeling capabilities.

Dow also draws upon its deep bench of scientists, technical specialists and other R&D team members for problem-solving. They use various techniques, methods and tools to get customers the answers they need.

Dow Epoxy's customer technical support center, the EPIcenter, is dedicated exclusively to established epoxy customers and applications. Through this service center, Dow Epoxy connects you to specially trained technical epoxy experts.

Dow Epoxy will also open a new global application development center in China in the first quarter of 2007. The new center, available to Dow Epoxy customers worldwide, will deliver innovative, timely and effective solutions to support customers primarily in the electrical laminates and coatings markets.

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