Polymers have for lengthy been a fundamental portion of our everyday lives so much in fact that examples are available almost ubiquitously. We generally have an effect leading us to believe that polymers are simply plastics used for packaging, in household objects and for making fibres, however is the tip from the iceberg.
Polymers are widely-used in all sorts of applications you will possibly not have thought much about. This blog enlightens you regarding the story behind polymers and how it’s got evolved since that time to serve several functions across a number of industries.
Origin of polymer science
Humans have got good thing about the flexibility of polymers for years and years in the form of oils, tars, resins and gums. However, it wasn’t before industrial revolution how the polymer industry began to develop. Actually, the birth of polymer science might be traced time for the mid-nineteenth century. Within the 1830s, Charles Goodyear developed the vulcanization process that transformed the sticky latex of natural rubber in to a useful elastomer for tire use. In 1909, Leo Hendrik Baekeland created resin from two quite normal chemicals, phenol and formaldehyde. The reaction between those two chemicals paved the way to add mass to a resin, called Bakelite, named after him. It was this resin that served as being a harbinger to a lot of from the common polymers that we use today. The term “polymer” comes from the Greek roots “poly” and “mer,” which assembled means “many parts.” Polymeric substances are made of numerous chemical units called monomers, which are gathered into large molecular chains consisting of thousands of atoms.
Classification of polymers
Based on their origin, polymethyl methacrylate could be classified as synthetic or natural polymers. Natural polymers are the ones polymers that exist in nature understanding that which 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 get the end product, considering that the basic material comes from a natural source, these polymers are referred to as natural polymers. Natural rubber via tree latex is basically a polymer made out of isoprene units using a portion of impurities inside.
Within this context, biopolymers will also be significant. There is certainly large number of biopolymers like polysaccharides, polyesters, and polyamides. They may be naturally manufactured by microorganisms. The genetic manipulation of microorganisms makes way for enormous possibility 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 within the laboratory or factory through 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 a such thermoplastic manufactured by the polymerization from the monomer, methyl methacrylate (MMA). PMMA is frequently known as acrylic plastic and lends its properties to a variety of consumer product applications. Being both a thermoplastic and transparent plastic, acrylic can be used extensively within the automotive industry in trunk release handles, master cylinder, and dashboard lighting. Consumer products that have a very constituent element of acrylic plastic include aquariums, motorcycle helmet lenses, paint, furniture, picture framing, and umbrella clamps, and others.
A number of the other synthetic polymers that we use within 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 happy to assist you to understand its properties as being a synthetic polymer. To find out more, get in touch with us here.
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