Polymers have for lengthy been a fundamental element of our everyday lives so much in fact that examples can be found almost ubiquitously. We generally have an effect which leads us to imagine that polymers are only plastics employed for packaging, in household objects as well as for making fibres, however this is the tip with the iceberg.

Polymers are widely-used in all sorts of applications you may not have thought much about. This blog enlightens you about the story behind polymers and exactly how it’s got evolved from the time to offer several functions across numerous industries.
Origin of polymer science
Humans took good thing about the flexibility of polymers since way back when by means of oils, tars, resins and gums. However, it was not before the industrial revolution that the polymer industry developed. Actually, the birth of polymer science could possibly be traced returning to the mid-nineteenth century. In 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 a resin from two quite typical chemicals, phenol and formaldehyde. The reaction between those two chemicals led the way for the development of a resin, called Bakelite, named after him. It had been this resin that served as a harbinger to a lot of with the common polymers that people use today. The term “polymer” hails from the Greek roots “poly” and “mer,” which build means “many parts.” Polymeric substances are comprised of numerous chemical units called monomers, that are gathered into large molecular chains composed of a large number of atoms.
Classification of polymers
On such basis as their origin, acrylic sheet might be viewed as natural or synthetic polymers. Natural polymers are the types polymers that occur in nature which that are isolated from plant and animal resources. Starch, cellulose, proteins, natural rubber etc. are a few examples of natural polymers. Though they are processed to get the end result, considering that the basic material develops from a natural source, these polymers are termed as natural polymers. Natural rubber originating from tree latex is essentially a polymer produced from isoprene units using a small percentage of impurities inside it.
Within this context, biopolymers will also be significant. There exists vast number of biopolymers for example polysaccharides, polyesters, and polyamides. They may be naturally produced by microorganisms. The genetic manipulation of microorganisms makes way for enormous potential for the biotechnological production of biopolymers with tailored properties suited to high-value medical application for example tissue engineering and drug delivery.
Synthetic polymers, his or her name indicates, are synthesized in the laboratory or factory by way of a group of chemical reactions from low molecular weight compounds. In the functional viewpoint they could be classified into four main categories: thermoplastics, thermosets, elastomers and synthetic fibres. Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is certainly one such thermoplastic produced by the polymerization with the monomer, methyl methacrylate (MMA). PMMA is frequently known as acrylic plastic and lends its properties to some number of consumer product applications. Being both a thermoplastic and transparent plastic, acrylic can be used extensively in the automotive industry in trunk release handles, master cylinder, and dashboard lighting. Consumer items that use a constituent component of acrylic plastic include aquariums, motorcycle helmet lenses, paint, furniture, picture framing, and umbrella clamps, and the like.
A number of the other synthetic polymers that people use in us include Nylons, found in fabrics and textiles, Teflon, found in non-stick pans and Polyvinyl Chloride, found in pipes.
As being a leading manufacturer of SUMIPEX® PMMA polymer, Sumitomo Chemical is satisfied to work with you understand its properties as a synthetic polymer. To understand more, contact us here.
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