Polymers have for lengthy been a fundamental element of our everyday lives so much so that examples are available almost ubiquitously. We have an impression that leads us to think that polymers are simply plastics useful for packaging, in household objects as well as making fibres, however, this is only the tip from the iceberg.
Polymers are employed in all sorts of applications you might not have thought much about. This website enlightens you about the story behind polymers and the way it’s evolved ever since to provide several functions across quite a few industries.
Origin of polymer science
Humans have got benefit from the flexibility of polymers for hundreds of years by means of oils, tars, resins and gums. However, it wasn’t prior to the industrial revolution how the polymer industry began to develop. Actually, the birth of polymer science could be traced returning to the mid-nineteenth century. Within the 1830s, Charles Goodyear developed the vulcanization process that transformed the sticky latex of natural rubber into a useful elastomer for tire use. In 1909, Leo Hendrik Baekeland developed a resin from two very common chemicals, phenol and formaldehyde. The response between these chemicals led the way for the development of a resin, called Bakelite, named after him. It had been this resin that served like a harbinger to many from the common polymers that people use today. The phrase “polymer” is derived from the Greek roots “poly” and “mer,” which come up with means “many parts.” Polymeric substances are made of many chemical units called monomers, that are joined together into large molecular chains comprising 1000s of atoms.
Classification of polymers
On such basis as their origin, thermoplastic resin might be regarded as natural or synthetic polymers. Natural polymers are those polymers that occur in nature which that are isolated from plant and animal resources. Starch, cellulose, proteins, natural rubber etc. are a couple of instances of natural polymers. Though these are processed to have the product, because the basic material develops from a natural source, these polymers are known as natural polymers. Natural rubber via tree latex is essentially a polymer made out of isoprene units using a portion of impurities within it.
On this context, biopolymers are also significant. There is certainly huge variety of biopolymers including polysaccharides, polyesters, and polyamides. They may be naturally produced by microorganisms. The genetic manipulation of microorganisms makes way for enormous possibility of the biotechnological creation of biopolymers with tailored properties suited to high-value medical application including tissue engineering and drug delivery.
Synthetic polymers, his or her name indicates, are synthesized in the laboratory or factory by way of a number of chemical reactions from low molecular weight compounds. Through the functional standpoint they are often classified into four main categories: thermoplastics, thermosets, elastomers and synthetic fibres. Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is one such thermoplastic produced by the polymerization from the monomer, methyl methacrylate (MMA). PMMA is often referred to as acrylic plastic and lends its properties to some selection of consumer product applications. Being both a thermoplastic and transparent plastic, acrylic can be used extensively in the automotive industry in trunk release handles, master cylinder, and dashboard lighting. Consumer products that have a constituent part of acrylic plastic include aquariums, motorcycle helmet lenses, paint, furniture, picture framing, and umbrella clamps, and others.
Some of the other synthetic polymers that people utilization in us include Nylons, utilized in fabrics and textiles, Teflon, utilized in non-stick pans and Polyvinyl Chloride, utilized in pipes.
Being a leading manufacturer of SUMIPEX® PMMA polymer, Sumitomo Chemical is glad to help you out in understanding its properties like a synthetic polymer. To find out more, contact us here.
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