Amorphous thermoplastics processing temperature

POLYARYLATES. These are clear, amorphous thermoplastics that combine clarity, high heat deflection temperatures, high impact strength, good surface hardness, and good electrical properties with inherent ultraviolet stability and flame retardance. No additives or stabilizers are required to provide these properties. Polyarylates are aromatic polyesters that are manufactured from various ratios of iso- and terephthalic acids with bisphenol A.1 The resultant products are free-flowing pellets which can be processed by a variety of thermoplastic techniques in transparent and... 

Block copolymers of the A—B—A type where A is a thermoplast and B an elastomer can have properties at ambient temperatures which would normally be expected from a crosslinked rubber. The cause of this phenomenon are the physical crosslinks produced by the thermoplastic blocks which may be either crystalline or amorphous (glassy). Above the melting temperature of the hard phase such materials flow and can be processed by the usual thermoplastic processing techniques. 

Thermal diffusivity, defined in eqn. (2.3), is the material property that governs the process of thermal diffusion over time. The thermal diffusivity in amorphous thermoplastics decreases with temperature. A small jump is observed around the glass transition temperature due to the decrease in heat capacity at Tg. Figure 2.17 [24] presents the thermal diffusivity for selected amorphous thermoplastics. 

The thermal behavior of polymers is of considerable technological importance. Knowledge of thermal transitions is important in the selection of proper processing and fabrication conditions, the characterization of the physical and mechanical properties of a material, and hence the determination of appropriate end uses. For example, the glass transition temperature of rubber determines the lower limit of the use of rubber and the upper limit of the use of an amorphous thermoplastic. We take up discussion of these transition temperatures in succeeding sections. 

Thermoplastics are uncrosslinked plastics up to their decomposition temperature. Flow or melting (Fig. 2) occurs above the softening point of the amorphous structure in amorphous thermoplastics and above the melting temperature of semicrystalline thermoplastics. In this thermoplastic state, the viscous liquid can be processed. Form strength is achieved by cooUng. Meltdown, solidification, and crystallization can be repeated any number of times. 

Thermoplasts are non-cross-linked materials whose application temperatures lie below and whose processing temperatures lie above their glass-transition temperatures (if amorphous) or melting temperatures (if partially crystalline). Above these temperatures, their viscosities are lower by orders of magnitude the materials can consequently be heat-formed. At the processing temperatures, however, they still show elastic characteristics, and are, therefore, viscoelastic substances. As a rule, they show no plasticity, so that the name thermoplast is incorrect. In order to be used as a thermoplast, a material must consist of non-cross-linked or, at the most, weakly cross-linked molecules. Typical thermoplasts are, according to their behavior, poly(ethylene) and other poly(olefins), poly(styrene), poly(vinyl chloride), poly(methyl methacrylate), and polyamides. 

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