Plastic materialities 18 emergence

Biosensors made of plastic materials emerged because of their favourable properties cost effectiveness, suitability for mass replication based on injection moulding, excellent stability providing inexpensive, high-throughput, and large-scale devices with enviromnentaUy friendly disposability. 

Many chlorine producers are having to tolerate impurities originating from standard plastic materials used in membrane technology. Flot chlorine and hot anolyte emerging from the anodic compartment of the cell place tremendous stresses on these plastic construction materials. 

Applications research is directed toward finding uses for new polymers and plastics materials. One may well have reservations about embarking on this subject when the development of new polymers is reaching a state of diminishing returns both because they emerge less frequently and because they are progressively more expensive and chemically complex. 

Within this context, the search for a material that is durable while in use and degradable after its disposal has led to the emergence of biodegradable plastic— materials that decompose into carbon dioxide and water as the final result of the action of microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi [5]. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) constitute examples of such materials. 

Engineering plastics, particularly thermosets, are also used in composite materials. Their excellent technological properties make them suitable for applications in cars, ships, aircraft, telecommunications equipment, etc. In recent years, important new areas of application for plastics have emerged in medicine (fabrication of artificial organs, orthopaedic implants, and devices for the controlled release of drugs), electronics (development of conductive poly-... 

The literature concerning starch is vast and its chemistry and technology have been comprehensively reviewed [3, 4, 7, 8]. Renewed interest has arisen in the last decade, more specifically in converting starch into a plastic material capable of replacing petroleum-based counterparts, which is the subject of this chapter. More specifically we will focus on the utilization of starch after destructuration by extrusion processing in the presence of plasticizer and discuss the drawbacks and new perspectives of this emerging technology. 

Today, several polymer types are currently used for foodstuff packaging. Plastics have emerged as the most preferred choice of packaging materials for various products- from food, beverages, chemicals, electronic items and so on. They offer unique advantages over conventional materials (Anonymous, 2011) ... 

In addition, the use of plastics aboard ships is on the rise and the use of the sea as a trash dumping site is no longer a possibility (93). Also for this reason, the disposal of plastic materials while at sea emerges as a major issue. Biodegradable plastics could help with regard for the safe disposal of plastic materials at sea. 

In another patented process, starch was destructurized in the presence of low molecular weight polymers such as polyethylene-vinyl alcohol (EVOH), EAA, poly-e-caprolactone and small amounts of moisture and of a high boiling point plasticizer, using a high shear equipment like a twin-screw extruder [77]. From these materials emerged one of the most successful commercial thermoplastic materials based on starch, which took the name of Mate-Bi . 

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