Polymers have for long been a fundamental element of our everyday lives so much so that examples can be found almost ubiquitously. We have an impact leading us to believe that polymers are merely plastics utilized for packaging, in household objects and then for making fibres, however, this is just the tip from the iceberg.

Polymers are used in all sorts of applications you will possibly not have thought much about. This site enlightens you concerning the story behind polymers and just how they have evolved since to provide several functions across a number of industries.
Origin of polymer science
Humans took benefit from the flexibility of polymers for years and years in the form of oils, tars, resins and gums. However, it was not before the industrial revolution the polymer industry began to develop. Actually, the birth of polymer science could possibly be traced returning to the mid-nineteenth century. Within the 1830s, Charles Goodyear developed the vulcanization process that transformed the sticky latex of natural rubber into a useful elastomer for tire use. In 1909, Leo Hendrik Baekeland created resin from two quite typical 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 turned out this resin that served like a harbinger to many from the common polymers we use today. The phrase “polymer” hails 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 composed of 1000s of atoms.
Classification of polymers
Judging by their origin, acrylic sheet may be classified as synthetic or natural polymers. Natural polymers are those polymers that occur in nature and that which are isolated from plant and animal resources. Starch, cellulose, proteins, natural rubber etc. are a few examples of natural polymers. Though they may be processed to find the end product, since basic material comes from a natural source, these polymers are called as natural polymers. Natural rubber via tree latex it’s essentially a polymer produced from isoprene units which has a portion of impurities within it.
On this context, biopolymers may also be significant. There’s huge variety of biopolymers including polysaccharides, polyesters, and polyamides. They’re naturally created by microorganisms. The genetic manipulation of microorganisms makes way for enormous risk of the biotechnological production of biopolymers with tailored properties well suited for high-value medical application including tissue engineering and drug delivery.
Synthetic polymers, his or her name indicates, are synthesized inside the laboratory or factory through a series of chemical reactions from low molecular weight compounds. Through the functional viewpoint they can be classified into four main categories: thermoplastics, thermosets, elastomers and synthetic fibres. Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is certainly one such thermoplastic created by the polymerization from the monomer, methyl methacrylate (MMA). PMMA is commonly 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 utilized extensively inside the automotive industry in trunk release handles, master cylinder, and dashboard lighting. Consumer products which possess a constituent part of acrylic plastic include aquariums, motorcycle helmet lenses, paint, furniture, picture framing, and umbrella clamps, amongst others.
Some of the other synthetic polymers we use in us 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 assist you understand its properties like a synthetic polymer. To find out more, contact us here.
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