Updated British standard for plastic moulding will improve quality and consistency in manufacturing

BSI, the business standards company, has published BS 89100:2018 Plastics: Joining of thermoplastic moulded components – specification of variables for thermal joining processes.

The revised standard brings together, for the first time, a document which defines all the essential variables that must be considered when making thermal joints in plastic moulded components, in order to product components of consistently acceptable quality. Industry experts from a diverse range of sectors were involved in the five year process for developing the standard.  

BS 89100 was developed to help organizations better understand and implement controls with thermal joining process specifications. The standard specifies the minimum essential variables in order to produce a component of the required consistency and quality for the following thermal joining processes:

• ultrasonic welding/staking/spot welding; infrared welding; hot gas convection welding; linear vibration welding; orbital vibration welding; spin welding; laser welding; hot plate welding; hot air heat staking; electrical heat staking; and infrared heat staking.

The standard is directly relevant to the aerospace; appliance; automotive; battery; electronics; engineering; food; medical; military; packaging; plastics; and textile industries, among others.

Dan Palmer, Head of Manufacturing at BSI, said: “Before publication of BS 89100 there wasn’t a document in existence which defined all of the essential variables for thermal joining processes in plastic. This standard fills that gap, and will prove an asset to manufacturers in a diverse range of sectors.

“BS 89100 enables more consistent controls for the manufacture of welded and heat staked thermoplastic products, which will improve quality and lower costs – to the benefit of the British public who will buy products manufactured in accordance with the best practice guideline outlined in the standard.”

BS 89100 defines the specification for all of the thermal joining processes listed in the standard to ensure that all of the essential variables are properly considered, including the qualified range of each variable, in order to establish and maintain component quality at an acceptable level.

The standard also provides template documents that can be used by the organization responsible for the joining activity to record the values for each essential variable in the joining process/es they are using.

The following organizations were involved in the development of BS89100: BPF; Cikautxo Group; Emerson-Branson; Ford; Heraeus; Jaguar-Landrover; JCB; Mann-Hummel; Mergon International; PHASA; Ralabone; Rofin-Basal; Telsonic UK Ltd; TWI.  

External input was also provided by BASF; Cameron Price; Dupont; NIFCO; and other industry experts.

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