B. TECH PLASTIC ENGINEERING PROGRAM

Plastics engineering encompasses the processing, design, development, and manufacture of plastics products. A plastic is a polymeric material that is in a semi-liquid state, having the property of plasticity and exhibiting flow. Plastics engineering encompasses plastics material and plastic machinery. Plastic Machinery is the general term for all types of machinery and devices used in the plastics processing industry.[1] The nature of plastic materials poses unique challenges to an engineer. Mechanical properties of plastics are often difficult to quantify, and the plastics engineer has to design a product that meets certain specifications while keeping costs to a minimum. Other properties that the plastics engineer has to address include: outdoor weatherability, thermal properties such as upper use temperature, electrical properties, barrier properties, and resistance to chemical attack.

In plastics engineering, as in most engineering disciplines, the economics of a product plays an important role. The cost of plastic materials ranges from the cheapest commodity plastics used in mass-produced consumer products to the very expensive, specialty plastics. The cost of a plastic product is measured in different ways, and the absolute cost of a plastic material is difficult to ascertain.