Polymers have for lengthy been a fundamental portion of our everyday lives so much in fact that examples is available almost ubiquitously. We have an impression that leads us to think that polymers are simply just plastics useful for packaging, in household objects and then for making fibres, however is the tip of the iceberg.
Polymers are employed in all sorts of applications you will possibly not have thought much about. This blog enlightens you regarding the story behind polymers and the way it’s evolved from the time for everyone several functions across a number of industries.
Origin of polymer science
Humans took benefit from the flexibility of polymers for centuries available as oils, tars, resins and gums. However, it had not been until the industrial revolution that this polymer industry developed. In fact, the birth of polymer science could be traced to the mid-nineteenth century. In the 1830s, Charles Goodyear developed the vulcanization process that transformed the sticky latex of natural rubber right into a useful elastomer for tire use. In 1909, Leo Hendrik Baekeland created resin from two quite normal chemicals, phenol and formaldehyde. The response between both of these chemicals led the way for the development of a resin, called Bakelite, named after him. It turned out this resin that served like a harbinger to numerous of the common polymers we use today. The phrase “polymer” hails from the Greek roots “poly” and “mer,” which come up with means “many parts.” Polymeric substances consist of countless chemical units called monomers, that are joined together into large molecular chains made up of a large number of atoms.
Classification of polymers
Judging by their origin, acrylic glass can be regarded as synthetic or natural polymers. Natural polymers are the type polymers that happen in nature and that that are isolated from plant and animal resources. Starch, cellulose, proteins, natural rubber etc. are a couple of types of natural polymers. Though they are processed to have the end product, since basic material develops from a natural source, these polymers are known as natural polymers. Natural rubber received from tree latex is basically a polymer made out of isoprene units having a portion of impurities inside it.
In this context, biopolymers will also be significant. There is huge variety of biopolymers including polysaccharides, polyesters, and polyamides. They’re naturally manufactured by microorganisms. The genetic manipulation of microorganisms makes means for enormous prospect of the biotechnological output of biopolymers with tailored properties well suited for high-value medical application including tissue engineering and drug delivery.
Synthetic polymers, as their name indicates, are synthesized in the laboratory or factory by way of a group of chemical reactions from low molecular weight compounds. From your functional viewpoint they are often classified into four main categories: thermoplastics, thermosets, elastomers and synthetic fibres. Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is certainly one such thermoplastic manufactured by the polymerization of the monomer, methyl methacrylate (MMA). PMMA is usually referred to as acrylic plastic and lends its properties with a various consumer product applications. Being both a thermoplastic and transparent plastic, acrylic is utilized extensively in the automotive industry in trunk release handles, master cylinder, and dashboard lighting. Consumer goods that use a constituent element of acrylic plastic include aquariums, motorcycle helmet lenses, paint, furniture, picture framing, and umbrella clamps, and others.
Many of the other synthetic polymers we utilization in our everyday life include Nylons, utilized in fabrics and textiles, Teflon, utilized in non-stick pans and Polyvinyl Chloride, utilized in pipes.
As being a leading manufacturer of SUMIPEX® PMMA polymer, Sumitomo Chemical is happy to help you out understand its properties like a synthetic polymer. To learn more, find us here.
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