Standardization News

Terms that are commonly used to describe defects or abnormalities found in different types of polymer pellets have now been collected in a standard developed by ASTM International Committee D20 on Plastics.

D7711, Guide for Description of Polymer Pellet Defects, is under the jurisdiction of Subcommittee D20.92 on Terminology.

According to Diane Todd, senior chemist, quality control laboratories, Westlake Chemical Corp., a survey of D20 members conducted prior to the development of D7711 revealed that many potential users of the standard did not have a written procedure for identifying pellet abnormalities. Members surveyed were asked to list terms used by their organizations, and these terms formed the initial list used to develop D7711.

"Anyone who is in contact regarding polymeric pellets will now be able to communicate with the same terminology to anyone else," says Todd, a D20 member who chairs the task group that developed D7711. "This will hopefully help polymer manufacturers, sales personnel, technical service representatives, quality control/quality assurance personnel and buyers/users identify issues with the pellets the same way, thereby expediting assistance with the issues."

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CONTACT Technical Information: Diane Todd, Westlake Chemical Corp. • Longview, Texas • Phone: 903-242-7868 O ASTM Staff: Alyson Fick • Phone: 610-832-9710 O Upcoming Meeting: April 15-18 • April Committee Week • Phoenix, Ariz.