Experimental Design for Formulators

Last update on Jun 30, 2010

Everyone is trying to operate faster and more efficiently these days. Adhesive formulators go to great lengths to offer adhesive formulations that "cure on demand" or provide an "instantaneous bond" for their customers interested in reducing production time. Yet, in their own shops many formulators often employ time consuming, inefficient processes such as "trial-and-error" in developing these same formulations.

The design of experiments (DOE) approach to optimizing formulations is a powerful tool for formulators to find an ideal formulation via statistical analysis of mixtures.

This article illustrates how to apply DOE methods for the purpose of accelerating product development and discovering formulation relationships that may remain hidden using a standard trial-and-error approach. A simple example is used to illustrate a DOE mixture problem, and references are provided for those wanting to go deeper into statistical methodologies.

Value of DOE to the Formulator

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A Simple Mixture DOE

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Additional Values

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Examples of Adhesive Formulations Employing DOE

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References

Anderson, M.J. and Whitcomb, P.J., "Mixture DOE Uncovers Formulations Quicker", Rubber and Plastics News, October 21, 2002.
Scheffe, H., "Experiments with Mixtures", J. of the Royal Society Series B, Vol. 20, No. 2, 1958, pp. 344-360.
Hillshafer, K., "Formulating by Design", Adhesives and Sealants, March 2004.
Rudolph, S.E., "Finding the Goldmine in a Product Line", Adhesives and Sealants, October 2005.
Grohens, Y., et. al., "Experimental Design as a Route for Improving the Performances of Formulated Epoxy Adhesives", Polymer Testing, Vol. 16, 1997, pp. 417-427.
Segura Velanida, D.M., Heath, R.J., and West, A.A., "Formulating Polyurethanes Using Case Based Reasoning", Plastics, Rubbers, and Composites, Vol. 36, No. 6, 2007.