FARRUKH SHAHZAD

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PLASTICS
Plastics are a large and varied group of materials, the overwhelming majority of which
are derived from petroleum and consist of different combinations or formulations of
carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and some other elements. They all share one
essential characteristic: they are easy to form into whatever shape we desire. Most are
what are known as thermoplastics, which means that they require heat to take on their
definitive form. They start out life as a powder or as granules. Others, which take their
definitive form when cold, and don't soften when heated, are known as thermosets.
These are usually in liquid or powder form as a raw material. There is also a third branch
of the family called elastomers which can be greatly distorted before returning to their
original shape.

TYPES OF PLASTICS
Plastics can be divided into the following major categories

1. Thermoset or thermosetting plastics

2. Thermoplastics.

Thermosetting Plastics
Thermoset, or thermosetting, plastics are synthetic materials that strengthen during being
heated, but cannot be successfully remolded or reheated after their initial heat-forming

Thermoset plastics are rigid plastics, resistant to higher temperatures than thermoplastics.
Once set, a thermoset plastics cannot be remoulded. There are several common thermoset
plastics:

• Expoxies
• Polyester

Thermoset : Expoxies
Epoxies come in resin form and are cured and set after which they cannot be remoulded.
The agent added to the resin to cause it to start and cure (go hard) can alter the properties
of the plastic considerably. Epoxies have excellent chemical resistance and are hard, rigid
and sometime brittle. They have excellent adhesion properties and are therefore used as
adhesives.

Thermoset : Polyester

Polyesters are hard and brittle but they can be combined with fibre glass to produce a
glass reinforced plastic (GRP) which is used for car bodies, sailing boats and furniture.
GRP's can be used for structural purposes but they are very expensive. They are available
in flexible rolls that harden when a catalyst is added to produce a strong rigid shell.

SOMEOTHER COMMON TYPES OF PLASTICS

Polyethylene Terephthalate
PET has good barrier properties against oxygen and carbon dioxide. Therefore, it is
utilized in bottles for mineral water. Other applications include food trays for oven
use, roasting bags, audio/video tapes as well as mechanical components.

PET exists both as an amorphous (transparent) and as a semi-crystalline (opaque and

white) thermoplastic material. Generally, it has good resistance to mineral oils,
solvents and acids but not to bases.

The semi-crystalline PET has good strength, ductility, stiffness and hardness. The
amorphous PET has better ductility but less stiffness and hardness.

Uses

PET can be semi-rigid to rigid, depending on its thickness, and is very lightweight. It
makes a good gas and fair moisture barrier, as well as a good barrier to alcohol (requires
additional "Barrier" treatment) and solvents. It is strong and impact-resistant. It is
naturally colorless with high transparency.

PET bottles are excellent barrier materials and are widely used for soft drinks (see
carbonation). For certain specialty bottles, PET sandwiches an additional polyvinyl
alcohol to further reduce its oxygen permeability.

When produced as a thin film (biaxially oriented PET film, often known by one of its
tradenames, "Mylar"), PET can be aluminized by evaporating a thin film of metal onto it
to reduce its permeability, and to make it reflective and opaque. These properties are
useful in many applications, including flexible food packaging and thermal insulation,
such as "space blankets". Because of its high mechanical strength, PET film is often used
in tape applications, such as the carrier for magnetic tape or backing for pressure
sensitive adhesive tapes.

Polystyrene
Polystyrene is formed by styrene molecules. The double bond between the CH2 and CH
parts of the molecule rearranges to form a bond with adjacent styrene molecules, thereby
producing polystyrene.

Polystyrene is an inexpensive and hard plastic, and probably only polyethylene is more
common in your everyday life. The outside housing of the computer you are using now is
probably made of polystyrene. Model cars and airplanes are made from polystyrene, and
it also is made in the form of foam packaging and insulation (StyrofoamTM is one brand
of polystyrene foam). Clear plastic drinking cups are made of polystyrene. So are a lot of
the molded parts on the inside of your car, like the radio knobs. Polystyrene is also used
in toys, and the housings of things like hairdryers, computers, and kitchen appliances.

Polystyrene is a vinyl polymer. Structurally, it is a long hydrocarbon chain, with a phenyl

group attached to every other carbon atom. Polystyrene is produced by free radical vinyl
polymerization, from the monomer styrene.

Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)

Poly(vinyl chloride) is the plastic known at the hardware store as PVC. This is the PVC
from which pipes are made, and PVC pipe is everywhere. The plumbing in your house is
probably PVC pipe, unless it's an older house. PVC pipe is what rural high schools with
small budgets use to make goal posts for their football fields. But there's more to PVC
than just pipe. The "vinyl" siding used on houses is made of poly(vinyl chloride). Inside
the house, PVC is used to make linoleum for the floor. In the seventies, PVC was often
used to make vinyl car tops.

PVC is useful because it resists two things that hate each other: fire and water. Because
of its water resistance it's used to make raincoats and shower curtains, and of course,
water pipes. It has flame resistance, too, because it contains chlorine. When you try to
burn PVC, chlorine atoms are released, and chlorine atoms inhibit combustion.

Structurally, PVC is a vinyl polymer. (well, duh!) It's similar to polyethylene, but on
every other carbon in the backbone chain, one of the hydrogen atoms is replaced with a
chlorine atom. It's produced by the free radical polymerization of vinyl chloride.
USES

PVC's intrinsic properties make it suitable for a wide variety of applications. It is

biologically and chemically resistant, making it the plastic of choice for most household
sewerage pipes and other pipe applications where corrosion would limit the use of metal.

With the addition of impact modifiers and stabilizers, it becomes a popular material for
window and door frames. By adding plasticizers, it can become flexible enough to be
used in cabling applications as a wire insulator.

Polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon)
Teflon was made in 1938 by DuPont. It's created by polymerization of
tetrafluoroethylene molecules (CF2=CF2). The polymer is stable, heat-resistant, strong,
resistant to many chemicals and has a nearly frictionless surface. Teflon is used in
plumbing tape, cookware, tubing, waterproof coatings, films and bearings.

Polytetrafluoroethylene is better known by the trade name Teflon. It's used to make non-
stick cooking pans, and anything else that needs to be slippery or non-stick. PTFE is also
used to treat carpets and fabrics to make them stain resistant. What's more, it's also very
useful in medical applications. Because human bodies rarely reject it, it can be used for
making artificial body parts.

Polytetrafluoroethylene, or PTFE, is made of a carbon backbone chain, and each carbon

has two fluorine atoms attached to it. It's usually drawn like the picture at the top of the
page, but it may be easier to think of it as it's drawn in the picture below, with the chain
of carbon atoms being thousands of atoms long.

PTFE is a vinyl polymer, and its structure, if not its behavior, is similar to polyethylene.
Polytetrafluoroethylene is made from the monomer tetrafluoroethylene by free radical
vinyl polymerization.
USES

Powdered PTFE is used in pyrotechnic compositions as oxidizer together with powdered

metals such as aluminium and magnesium. Upon ignition these mixtures form
carbonaceous soot and the corresponding metal fluoride and release large amounts of
heat. Hence they are used as infrared decoy flares and igniters for solid-fuel rocket
propellants.

PTFE is also used in body piercings, such as a sub-clavicle piercing, due to its flexibility
and bio-compatibility.

PTFE is also used to coat certain types of hardened, armor-piercing bullet, so as to reduce
the amount of wear on the firearm's rifling. These are often referred to as "cop-killer"
bullets by virtue of PTFE's supposed ability to ease a bullet's passage through body
armor. However, this is simply an urban myth as PTFE has no effect in the bullet's ability
to penetrate soft body armor, only on the ability to prevent damage to the weapon from
firing very hard ammunition.

Polyvinylidine Chloride (Saran)

Polyvinylidene chloride is a polymer derived from vinylidene chloride.

Dow makes Saran resins, which are synthesized by polymerization of vinyl dine chloride
molecules (CH2=CCl2). The polymer can be drawn into films and wraps that are
impermeable to food odors. Saran wrap is a popular plastic for packaging foods

Polyethylene, LDPE and HDPE

The most common polymer in plastics is polyethylene, which is made from ethylene
monomers (CH2=CH2). The first polyethylene was made in 1934. Today, we call it low-
density polyethylene (LDPE) because it will float in a mixture of alcohol and water. In
LDPE, the polymer strands are entangled and loosely organized, so it's soft and flexible.
It was first used to insulate electrical wires, but today it's used in films, wraps, bottles,
disposable gloves and garbage bags.

Polypropylene (PP)
Polypropylene or polypropene (PP) is a thermoplastic polymer, made by the chemical
industry and used in a wide variety of applications, including packaging, textiles (e.g.
ropes, Under Armour, thermal underwear and carpets), stationery, plastic parts and
reusable containers of various types, laboratory equipment, loudspeakers, automotive
components, and polymer banknotes. An addition polymer made from the monomer
propylene, it is rugged and unusually resistant to many chemical solvents, bases and
acids.

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here

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