Polymers have for very long been a fundamental portion of our everyday lives so much in fact that examples is available almost ubiquitously. We are apt to have an impression that leads us to think that polymers are only plastics useful for packaging, in household objects as well as making fibres, but this is only the tip of the iceberg.
Polymers are employed in many applications you do not have thought much about. This web site enlightens you in regards to the story behind polymers and how it’s evolved from the time to serve several functions across numerous industries.
Origin of polymer science
Humans took advantage of the flexibility of polymers for centuries available as oils, tars, resins and gums. However, it wasn’t prior to the industrial revolution the polymer industry began to develop. Actually, the birth of polymer science could possibly be traced back to the mid-nineteenth century. Inside 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 designed a resin from two quite normal chemicals, phenol and formaldehyde. The response between these chemicals led the way to add mass to a resin, called Bakelite, named after him. It absolutely was this resin that served being a harbinger to many people of the common polymers we use today. The phrase “polymer” hails from the Greek roots “poly” and “mer,” which put together means “many parts.” Polymeric substances consist of several chemical units called monomers, which are joined together into large molecular chains consisting of thousands of atoms.
Classification of polymers
On the basis of their origin, polymethyl methacrylate could be classified as synthetic or natural polymers. Natural polymers are the types polymers that appear in nature and that which are isolated from plant and animal resources. Starch, cellulose, proteins, natural rubber etc. are some examples of natural polymers. Though they’re processed to get the product, since the basic material comes from a natural source, these polymers are referred to as natural polymers. Natural rubber via tree latex is actually a polymer created from isoprene units with a tiny proportion of impurities within it.
On this context, biopolymers are also significant. There is vast number of biopolymers like polysaccharides, polyesters, and polyamides. These are naturally made by microorganisms. The genetic manipulation of microorganisms makes method for enormous prospect of the biotechnological creation of biopolymers with tailored properties ideal for high-value medical application like tissue engineering and drug delivery.
Synthetic polymers, for their name indicates, are synthesized within the laboratory or factory through a number of chemical reactions from low molecular weight compounds. From your functional standpoint they could be classified into four main categories: thermoplastics, thermosets, elastomers and artificial fibres. Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is a such thermoplastic made by the polymerization of the monomer, methyl methacrylate (MMA). PMMA is frequently generally known as acrylic plastic and lends its properties to some selection of consumer product applications. Being both a thermoplastic and transparent plastic, acrylic is used extensively within the automotive industry in trunk release handles, master cylinder, and dashboard lighting. Consumer products that use a constituent component of acrylic plastic include aquariums, motorcycle helmet lenses, paint, furniture, picture framing, and umbrella clamps, amongst others.
A number of the other synthetic polymers we use within us include Nylons, utilized in fabrics and textiles, Teflon, utilized in non-stick pans and Polyvinyl Chloride, utilized in pipes.
Like a leading manufacturer of SUMIPEX® PMMA polymer, Sumitomo Chemical is glad to assist you understand its properties being a synthetic polymer. To understand more, reach out to us here.
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