Credit card plasticity

Many commercial polymers such as ceUulosics, acrylics, and vinyls have glass transition temperatures, Tg, above room temperature. They are therefore hard, brittle, glasslike solids at ambient temperatures. To extend the utility of these polymers, it is usually necessary to reduce the Tg to below the anticipated end-use temperature. The principal function of a plasticizer is to reduce the Tg of a polymer so as to enhance its flexibility over expected temperatures of application. For example, unplasticized PVC is a rigid, hard solid used in such applications as credit cards, plastic pipes, and home siding. Addition of plasticizers such as phthalate esters reduces the modulus and converts the polymer into a leathery material used in the manufacture of upholstery, electrical insulation, and similar items. 

Rigid PVC products include house siding, extruded pipe, thermoformed, and injection-molded parts. Rigid PVC is calendered into credit cards. Plasticized PVC is used in applications such as flexible tubing, floor mats, garden hose, shrink wrap, and bottles. 

Urey, C., Greenpeace Supports Plastic Visa Card Monsanto s Biopol Resin Replacing PVC in Credit Cards, Plastics News, June 2, 1997, p. 4. 

V Poly( vinyl chloride), PVC Shampoo bottles, pipes, shower curtains, vinyl siding, wire insulation, floor tiles, credit cards Plastic floor mats... 

From food punnets to credit cards, plastic facilitates every part of our daily lives. It has become central to processes of contemporary sociomaterial living. Universalized and abstracted, it is often treated as the passive object of political deliberations, or a problematic material demanding human management, but in what ways might a politics of plastics deal with both its specific manifestation in particular artefacts and events, and its complex dispersed heterogeneity ... 

Basically the calendering process is used in the production of plastic films and sheets. It converts plastic into a melt and then passes the pastelike mass through roll nips of a series of heated and rotating speed-controlled rolls into webs of specific thickness and width. The web may be polished or embossed, either rigid or flexible (9). One of its sheets major worldwide markets is in credit cards. At the low cost side these lines can start a million. A line, probably the largest in the world... 

Plastics are one example. Scientists use the term plastic to refer to polymers, which are materials composed of a chain of bonded molecules. For instance, most credit cards are made from a plastic known as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which consists of linked molecules of vinyl chloride. (Old vinyl record albums were often made from the same material.) The first plastic made entirely in the laboratory (as opposed to natural products) was Bakelite, concocted aroimd 1908 by the Belgian-American chemist Leo Baekeland (1863-1944). 

Products from calenders go into many different markets such as credit cards, upholstery, luggage, water reservoir, rainwear, loose-leaf book, and footwear. Different plastics are used such as ABS and ABS/PVC alloys go into margarine pack, luggage, panels, and chlorinated PE go into roofing, and pond liners. There are unsupported and supported as well as rigid products and coated substrates. Unsupported flexible PVC... 

Coated substrates involve different materials such as coated credit cards, paper, woven and nonwoven textiles, plastic or aluminum films and sheets, and roll coverings. Calender lines can process one coated side, both sides, or laminated (multiple substrates coated between each substrate). Calender with three rolls is usually sufficient for one-sided coating. However four rolls are used for extremely thin coatings. The 4-roll calender can be used for double-sided coating that is applied simultaneously on both sides. Specialized calendering equipment is used for certain products such as credit cards, floor tiles, and window curtains. 

All credit cards are plastic, sized 85.60 x 53.98 mm, and have a magnetic strip or chip that holds data. 

A plasticizer is a material that enhances the processibiIity or flexibility of the polymer with which it is mixed. The plasticizer may be a liquid or solid or another polymer. For example, rigid polyfvinyl chloride) is a hard solid material used to make credit cards, pipe, house siding, and other articles. Mixing with about 50-100 parts by weight of phthalate ester plasticizers converts the polymer into leathery products useful for the manufacture of upholstery, electrical insulation, and other items. Plasticizers in surface coatings enhance the flow and leveling properties of the material during application and reduce the brittleness of the dried film. 

Cut the trigger pin from 1/8" diameter drill rod. The trigger is made from V flat stock. Cut two i shims from an old credit card or similar plastic sheet. Use a sanding block to reduce trigger width until the trigger and two shims are a wob-... 

The Romans kept geese on their Capitol Hill to cackle alarm in the event of attack by night. Modern Americans, despite their technology, have hardly improved on that old system of protection. According to the latest Safety Council report, almost any door with standard locks can be opened easily with a common plastic credit card. 

Table III indicates some interesting statistics. After pipe and conduit wire and cable, packaging film and siding are the next in high-volume use. In addition, there are widely divergent uses ranging from baby pants to automobile upholstery to credit cards. PVC has remained a versatile, safe, functional plastic that is strong, lightweight, and moderate in energy requirements for its manufacture.

Vinyl chloride CH2=CHC1 Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) Plastic pipe, credit cards... 

Computers can be made small enough to fit inside a plastic credit card by creating what is known as a solid state device. In this device, electrons flow through solid material such as silicon. 

Also PVC—but for the material in credit cards, no plasticizer is added. To manufacture a credit card, usually a few thin sheets of PVC are glued together. 

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