Polymers have for long been a fundamental portion of our everyday lives because of this that examples can be found almost ubiquitously. We are apt to have the feeling that leads us to imagine that polymers are merely plastics employed for packaging, in household objects and then for making fibres, however, this is simply the tip from the iceberg.
Polymers are utilized in all sorts of applications you might not have thought much about. This website enlightens you about the story behind polymers and just how it has evolved since that time to serve several functions across a number of industries.
Origin of polymer science
Humans have benefit from the flexibility of polymers for hundreds of years available as oils, tars, resins and gums. However, it was not until the industrial revolution that the polymer industry started to realize. In fact, the birth of polymer science could possibly be traced returning 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 developed a resin from two quite typical chemicals, phenol and formaldehyde. The response between those two 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 people from the common polymers that people use today. The phrase “polymer” comes from the Greek roots “poly” and “mer,” which assembled means “many parts.” Polymeric substances are made of many chemical units called monomers, which are joined together into large molecular chains composed of 1000s of atoms.
Classification of polymers
On such basis as their origin, acrylic glass may be considered natural or synthetic polymers. Natural polymers are the type polymers that appear in nature understanding that which are isolated from plant and animal resources. Starch, cellulose, proteins, natural rubber etc. are a few samples of natural polymers. Though these are processed to get the result, considering that the basic material develops from a natural source, these polymers are known as natural polymers. Natural rubber originating from tree latex is essentially a polymer made from isoprene units having a tiny proportion of impurities within it.
In this context, biopolymers are also significant. There’s large number of biopolymers for example polysaccharides, polyesters, and polyamides. They are naturally manufactured by microorganisms. The genetic manipulation of microorganisms makes way for enormous prospect of the biotechnological manufacture of biopolymers with tailored properties suitable for high-value medical application for example tissue engineering and drug delivery.
Synthetic polymers, as his or her name indicates, are synthesized inside the laboratory or factory by having a series 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 manufactured by the polymerization from the monomer, methyl methacrylate (MMA). PMMA is commonly known as acrylic plastic and lends its properties to some number of consumer product applications. Being both a thermoplastic and transparent plastic, acrylic is employed extensively inside the automotive industry in trunk release handles, master cylinder, and dashboard lighting. Consumer products that have a constituent component of acrylic plastic include aquariums, motorcycle helmet lenses, paint, furniture, picture framing, and umbrella clamps, and others.
Many of the other synthetic polymers that people use in our everyday life include Nylons, used in fabrics and textiles, Teflon, used in non-stick pans and Polyvinyl Chloride, used in pipes.
As a leading manufacturer of SUMIPEX® PMMA polymer, Sumitomo Chemical is satisfied to help you understand its properties like a synthetic polymer. To understand more, get in touch with us here.
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