Engineering resins nylon

About 90 percent of plastics (weightwise) can be classified as commodity resins, the others being engineering resins. The five commodities of LDPE, HDPE, PP, PVC, and PS account for about two thirds of all the resins consumed. The engineering resins— nylon, PC, acetal, and so on—are characterized by improved performance in higher... 

Fig. 1. Engineering resins cost vs annual volume (11) (HDT, °C) A, polyetheretherketone (288) B, polyamideimide (>270) C, polyarylether sulfone (170- >200) D, polyimide (190) E, amorphous nylons (124) F, poly(phenylene sulfide) (>260) G, polyarylates (170) H, crystalline nylons (90—220) I, polycarbonate (130) J, midrange poly(phenylene oxide) alloy (107—150) K, polyphthalate esters (180—260) and L, acetal resins (110—140).

Nylon Resins. Nylon engineering thermoplastic resins have the foUowing polyamide stmctures ... 

Commercial engineering thermoplastic nylons are mainly crystalline resins. Nylon-6,6 [32131 -17-2] is the largest volume resin, followed by nylon-6 (48). Other commercially available but much lower volume crystalline nylons are -6,9, -6,10, -6,12, -11, and -12. The crystallinity of the molded part decreases with chain size (49). A few truly amorphous commercial nylon resins contain both aromatic and ahphatic monomer constituents (50). For example, Trogamid T resin is made from a mixture of 2,2,4- and 2,4,4-trimethylhexamethylenediamines and terephthahc acid (51). 

Engineering resins can be combined with either other engineering resins or commodity resins. Some commercially successhil blends of engineering resins with other engineering resins include poly(butylene terephthalate)—poly(ethylene terephthalate), polycarbonate—poly(butylene terephthalate), polycarbonate—poly(ethylene terephthalate), polysulfone—poly (ethylene terephthalate), and poly(phenylene oxide)—nylon. Commercial blends of engineering resins with other resins include modified poly(butylene terephthalate), polycarbonate—ABS, polycarbonate—styrene maleic anhydride, poly(phenylene oxide)—polystyrene, and nylon—polyethylene. 

Currently, over 110,000 t/yr of engineering resin blends are consumed worldwide, primarily in the transportation, business-machine, hardware, electrical, and appHance industries. Annual growth is projected to be ca 17%/yr. New blends based on PC, terephthalate, and nylon resins are experiencing the greatest expansion (122). These projections could be surpassed if large-volume metal appHcations such as automotive panels are replaced by engineering resin blends which are currently being field-tested. 

Nylon resins are important engineering thermoplastics. Nylons are produced by a condensation reaction of amino acids, a diacid and a diammine, or by ring opening lactams such as caprolactam. The polymers, however, are more important for producing synthetic fibers (discussed later in this chapter). 

Aortal Aery Me ABS Alkyd Alloy /Blands Barrier Resin CeliAwie Diallyl Phthalates Engineering Plastics Epoxies Fluorepdlymars Liquid Crystal Melamine Nitrile Resins Nylon Phenolic Polyamlde-lmide Polycarbonate polyester Polyethylene Polyimictes Polypropylene Polyurethanes PVC... 

DSM Engineering Plastics, nylon, PBT, Polycarbonate Thermoplastic Elastomer PC/ABS Conductive Resins Thermoplastics Reinforced and Filled Thermoplastics Lubricated... 

Nearly all cyclohexane is used to make three intermediate chemicals. About 85% goes for caprolactam, and adipic acid. Another 10% goes for hexamethylene diamine (HMD). All three are the starting materials for Nylon 6 or Nylon 66 synthetic fibers and resins. Nylon fiber markets include the familiar applications hosiery, upholstery, carpet, and tire cord. Nylon resins are engineering plastics and are largely used to manufacture gears, washers, and similar applications where economy, strength, and a surface with minimum friction are important. 

Engineers like to design machines that take plastics and inject them into molds, extrude them into filament, sheets, rods, and film, or blow-mold them into shapes. They want these plastics to have a terrific balance of mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. That s why they have attached their name to engineering resins, a set of plastics unlike thermosets that they can remelt and further process mechanically. Nylon, polycarbonates, and polyesters are the three most popular engineering resins. 

Engineering resins are polymers designed to excel in. certain physical characteristics. For the most part they are thermoplastics, but they can be thermosets as well. Examples are Nylon 6, Nylon 66, polycarbonates, and polyesters. Phenolics can be considered engineering resins. 

While carbon fiber (thickness on the order of 1000 nm) composites offer very strong materials, carbon nanotubes make even stronger composites. These carbon nanotubes have aspect ratios of over 1000 (ratio of length to diameter). Further, because some carbon nanotubes are electrically conductive, composites containing them can be made to be conductive. A number of carbon nanotube matrixes have been made including using a number of engineering resins, such as polyesters, nylons, polycarbonates, and PPE. 

Fig. 1. US total sales and captive use of selected thermoplastic resins by major market for 2001. Major market volumes are derived from plastic resins sales and captive use data as compiled by VERIS Consulting, LLC and reported by the American Plastics Council s Plastic Industry Producers Statistics Group. Selected thermoplastics are low-density polyethylene, linear low-density polyethylene, high-density polyethylene, polypropylene, nylon, polyvinyl chloride, thermoplastic polyester, engineering resins, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene, styrene-acrylonitrile, other styrenics, polystyrene, and styrene butadiene latexes. (Data from ref. 25.)...

In 2000 nylon-6 fibers (including monofilament) consumed 74% of the caprolactam for textile, industrial (i.e., tire cords, seat belts, and fishing line) and carpet yams. Engineering resins and film consumed the other 26% of the production265 267. 

Over 90% of the adipic acid is consumed for the production of nylon for fiber and engineering resin applications. A large fraction of this consumption is direct, as the adipic acid used in the production of nylon 6,6, but a substantial fraction of the adipic acid is further processed to give hexamethy-lene diamine, the other monomer required. A further small fraction of the... 

Wellamid. [Wellman MBS Plastics] Nylon 6 or resins, some glass and/ (X mineral reinforced engineering resin for inj. molded parts. 

About 15< o of the caprolactam manufactured worldwide is used to produce engineering resins. This is currently the highest growth segment. About 80synthetic fibers market. The balance of about 5% is used for specialty organic synthesis [31]. 

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