Costs of Material Data Measurement

The material data provided by resin suppliers in their product datasheets generally focuses on single point data only and does not include the data useful to the design engineers. Even though the single-point data bears little relevance to the end-use performance of the material and provides very little insight into its behavior, design engineers rely heavily on these data because it is readily available. However, to enhance their confidence in their material selection decisions, they ask for large quantity of data without taking into consideration the cost of data measurement. Today, as resin suppliers struggle to justify the cost of generating all the data requested against the tremendous pressure to reduce their cost, it is important to put the direct costs of material data measurement in perspective. This presentation, based on evaluation of price listings for material data measurement from several testing facilities in the U.S.A., Europe, and Latin America, is intended to illustrate how expensive it is to obtain the large amount of material data requested by design engineers, attributed to the many test variables involved and consideration of the testing time. The objective of this talk is to highlight the importance of measuring only the data which is necessary and useful.