Introduction to Plastics

Plastics were originally seen as substitute produets for traditional materials sueh as metal and wood. However, now they have become as irreplaceable as the classie materials themselves. Plastics have managed this aehievement because of their unique versatility and the ability to tailor their properties, which other materials eannot match. Our modem everyday life would be inconceivable without plastics. The use of plastics enables us to solve problems that are insoluble with the classic materials, whether it be - to name only a few examples - in electronics, light engineering, medical technology, space technology or machine and vehicle manufacture. 

Plastics are made up of polymers and other materials that are added to them to give the desired characteristics. Natural polymeric materials such as mbber, shellac and gutta percha have a long history as raw materials for man. The first thermoplastic, celluloid, was also manufactured from a natural product, from cellulose. Even today, there are still some cellulose based plastics, i.e., the cellulose acetates (CA). Cellulose is already composed of the large molecules that are characteristic of plastics (macromolecules). However, to manufacture CA plastics, they still have to be prepared with acetic acid. The first injection moulding machine was built and patented in 1872 in order to mould cellulose materials. 

Today the vast majority of plastics are manufactmed artificially, i.e., the macromolecules are built up from smaller molecules (predominantly from carbon and hydrogen). Basically, plastics can also be manufactured from their basic constituents, carbon and hydrogen (coal and water). For economic reasons, however, similar to petrol manufacture, plastics are nowadays almost exclusively manufactured from products generated by the fractionated distillation of crude oil. 

Plastics made from natural substances, e.g., Celluloid, cellulose acetate, vulcanised fibre, casein plastics (galalith) 

However, the origin of plastics, whether obtained from naturally occurring large moleeules or synthetically prepared from smaller moleeules, makes no difference to the subsequent proeessing. 

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Section 2 gives a general introduction to plastics waste management options ... 

This book presents a precise, yet non-mathe-iiiatical introduction to plastics, their raw materials, syntheses, properties, and applications. The manufacture and properties of plastics arc discussed as a function of the molecular and supcrinolccular properties of polymers. Polymer composites and waste disposal are also treated. 

Carley, J.F. Introduction to Plastics Extrusion, Chemical Engineering Progress Symposium Series no. 49, vol. 60, 1964, p. 38. 

V. Goodship, Introduction to Plastics Recycling, Smithers Rapra, Shrewsbury, 2nd edition, 2007. 

Elias, Hans-Georg An Introduction to Plastics, 2nd Edition. John Wiley Sons. Inc, New York, NY, 2003. 

Brown W E, 1992. Plastics in Food Packaging Properties, Design and Fabrication. Marcel Dekker. N.Y. Brydson J A, 1995. Plastics Materials 6nd. Ed. Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford Elias H G, 1993. An Introduction to Plastics, VCH, Weinheim... 

Introduction to Plastics and Composites Mechanical Properties and Engineering Applications, Edward Miller... 

Section 7.1 Books on polymer syntheses and properties J. M. G. Cowie, Polymers Chemistry and Physics of Modern Materials, second edition. Chapman Hall, London 1991 H.-G. Elias, An Introduction to Plastics, second edition, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2003 J. R. Fried, Polymer Science and Technology, second edition, Prentice Hall. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 2003. 

An introduction to plastics for non-specialists 29 Fibre volume fraction 0.25 to 0.30. Filler epoxy ratio 1 1 w/w. 

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