Polymers have for too long been a fundamental portion of our everyday lives a case in point that examples are available almost ubiquitously. We are apt to have an impact leading us to believe that polymers are only plastics employed for packaging, in household objects as well as for making fibres, however this is just the tip in the iceberg.
Polymers are employed in many applications you might not have thought much about. This site enlightens you regarding the story behind polymers and how it’s evolved from the time to offer several functions across a host of industries.
Origin of polymer science
Humans have taken benefit from the versatility of polymers for years and years in the form of oils, tars, resins and gums. However, it wasn’t prior to the industrial revolution that this polymer industry developed. Actually, the birth of polymer science could possibly be traced back to the mid-nineteenth century. Within the 1830s, Charles Goodyear developed the vulcanization procedure that transformed the sticky latex of natural rubber in to a useful elastomer for tire use. In 1909, Leo Hendrik Baekeland designed a resin from two quite typical chemicals, phenol and formaldehyde. The reaction between these chemicals paved the way to build up a resin, called Bakelite, named after him. It turned out this resin that served like a harbinger to many in the common polymers that individuals use today. The phrase “polymer” comes from the Greek roots “poly” and “mer,” which assembled means “many parts.” Polymeric substances consist of numerous chemical units called monomers, which are joined together into large molecular chains consisting of a large number of atoms.
Classification of polymers
On such basis as their origin, methyl methacrylate resin may be regarded as synthetic or natural polymers. Natural polymers are the type polymers that appear in nature knowning that which are isolated from plant and animal resources. Starch, cellulose, proteins, natural rubber etc. are some types of natural polymers. Though they’re processed to obtain the result, since the basic material comes from a natural source, these polymers are referred to as natural polymers. Natural rubber received from tree latex it’s essentially a polymer created from isoprene units with a small percentage of impurities inside it.
In this context, biopolymers can also be significant. There is certainly huge variety of biopolymers for example polysaccharides, polyesters, and polyamides. They are naturally manufactured by microorganisms. The genetic manipulation of microorganisms makes way for enormous risk of the biotechnological creation of biopolymers with tailored properties well suited for high-value medical application for example tissue engineering and drug delivery.
Synthetic polymers, as their name indicates, are synthesized in the laboratory or factory by way of a series of chemical reactions from low molecular weight compounds. From your functional standpoint they may be classified into four main categories: thermoplastics, thermosets, elastomers and synthetic fibres. Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is one such thermoplastic manufactured by the polymerization in the monomer, methyl methacrylate (MMA). PMMA is frequently generally known as acrylic plastic and lends its properties to some variety of consumer product applications. Being both a thermoplastic and transparent plastic, acrylic is employed extensively in the automotive industry in trunk release handles, master cylinder, and dashboard lighting. Consumer items that possess a constituent element of acrylic plastic include aquariums, motorcycle helmet lenses, paint, furniture, picture framing, and umbrella clamps, among others.
A few of the other synthetic polymers that individuals use within 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 glad to work with you to understand its properties like a synthetic polymer. To find out more, get in touch with us here.
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