Polymers have for lengthy been an integral part of our everyday lives so much in fact that examples is found almost ubiquitously. We have the feeling that leads us to imagine that polymers are merely plastics useful for packaging, in household objects as well as making fibres, but this is simply the tip in the iceberg.
Polymers are employed in all sorts of applications you might not have thought much about. This web site enlightens you about the story behind polymers and just how it has evolved ever since to provide several functions across quite a few industries.
Origin of polymer science
Humans have got advantage of the flexibility of polymers for centuries in the form of oils, tars, resins and gums. However, it was not prior to the industrial revolution how the polymer industry developed. Actually, the birth of polymer science may be traced to the mid-nineteenth century. From the 1830s, Charles Goodyear developed the vulcanization procedure that transformed the sticky latex of natural rubber into a useful elastomer for tire use. In 1909, Leo Hendrik Baekeland created resin from two common chemicals, phenol and formaldehyde. The response between these chemicals led the way to build up a resin, called Bakelite, named after him. It turned out this resin that served as a harbinger to many in the common polymers that we use today. The phrase “polymer” is derived from the Greek roots “poly” and “mer,” which put together means “many parts.” Polymeric substances consist of countless chemical units called monomers, which can be joined together into large molecular chains comprising a huge number of atoms.
Classification of polymers
On such basis as their origin, pmma thermoplastic might be classified as natural or synthetic polymers. Natural polymers are those polymers that exist in nature and that which can be isolated from plant and animal resources. Starch, cellulose, proteins, natural rubber etc. are several examples of natural polymers. Though they are processed to obtain the end result, since the basic material comes from a natural source, these polymers are termed as natural polymers. Natural rubber via tree latex is essentially a polymer made from isoprene units which has a tiny proportion of impurities in it.
On this context, biopolymers can also be significant. There’s large number of biopolymers like polysaccharides, polyesters, and polyamides. These are naturally created by microorganisms. The genetic manipulation of microorganisms makes opportinity for enormous risk of the biotechnological output of biopolymers with tailored properties suitable for high-value medical application like tissue engineering and drug delivery.
Synthetic polymers, for their name indicates, are synthesized from the laboratory or factory by having a number of chemical reactions from low molecular weight compounds. In the functional viewpoint they may be classified into four main categories: thermoplastics, thermosets, elastomers and artificial fibres. Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is but one such thermoplastic created by the polymerization in the monomer, methyl methacrylate (MMA). PMMA is usually known as acrylic plastic and lends its properties to a number of consumer product applications. Being both a thermoplastic and transparent plastic, acrylic is employed extensively from the automotive industry in trunk release handles, master cylinder, and dashboard lighting. Consumer products which use a constituent portion of acrylic plastic include aquariums, motorcycle helmet lenses, paint, furniture, picture framing, and umbrella clamps, among others.
Many of the other synthetic polymers that we used in our everyday life include Nylons, employed in fabrics and textiles, Teflon, employed in non-stick pans and Polyvinyl Chloride, employed in pipes.
Like a leading manufacturer of SUMIPEX® PMMA polymer, Sumitomo Chemical is satisfied to assist you understand its properties as a synthetic polymer. To know more, get in touch with us here.
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