Polymer Process Lab

Bay Materials fills a special niche for small-volume polymer product manufacturing. For example, we can compound and extrude as little as a half-pound of material – an unheard of quantity for most manufacturers. This quick turn, small-volume processing is ideal for supporting the rapidly changing needs of small companies.

Thorough process QC and Documentation

Bay Materials has flexible warehouse space that dovetails with our materials prototyping capabilities. We can evolve a small manufacturing line from a poorly defined need with full QC and documentation support along the way. If your needs eventually outgrow our capacity you have all the information and support needed to move the process to a bigger supplier.

Polymer Blending, Compounding and Extruding

Aside from technicians and common laboratory equipment, Bay Materials has small volume compounding, extruding and mixing capabilities along with an in-house stock of common resins so work can begin immediately. Many projects with clients in the past have begun with unknown requirements and ended with us providing the low volume product that suits their exact needs.

Material Prototyping

If you’re trying to push an envelope with your product or design, chances are you’ll need one or more materials that you can’t just get off the shelf. If you’re lucky and you can get it off the shelf, you may still be in trouble – many processors and suppliers don’t have the interest or equipment for small volume runs. To address this common need for small lots of material (on the order of 50 lbs), Bay Materials has small scale equipment suitable for producing small lots, and a family of partner vendors that have synergistic capabilities that also support small lot production quantities.

Bay Materials has equipment to compound or blend polymers, gels, adhesives, or solutions on a small manufacturing scale. Bay Materials can then convert these formulated materials to extruded shapes, films, or compression molded parts for further evaluation. The results from this process are generally much more representative and useful than those from simple lab-scale experiments, but far faster and less expensive than full scale compounding and molding runs.

Bay Materials has over a thousand samples of polymers and formulating ingredients on its shelves so we can start working on material or formulation prototypes right away. We can quickly turn your wants and needs list to a set of quantitative requirements from which to work. You can see and feel how the material behaves in a manner of days. Then with your immediate feedback we’ll be much closer to a final solution.

If you have a specific material in mind, we can work with it. If we don’t have it we’ll get it through our network of suppliers (formal and informal).