Plastics future needs

Market research is an important and effective link in the chain of events that starts with an idea and leads to an investment in research and development. Market research is required to ferret out market needs and to help describe the characteristics of the product that could fill this need. Many new plastics are expected to replace nonplastic materials in specific applications, and part of the input must include the developing of a suitable new fabricating process. Anyone involved in these activities knows that it is an oversimplification to expect market research people to go out into the market place and ask potential users what their future needs are going to be. A large majority just do not know, particularly when yours program requires an estimate of the profitability of a project before it is initiated. This requires not only an understanding of a need but also an appreciation of future pricing, volume, and costs. 

The data in Table 1 give a good impression of the magnitude of the plastics being produced and used in Germany and of the amounts of plastic that need to be recycled in the future as a result of long residence times e.g. in construction. 

In this chapter, industrial and technological future trends and present and future needs are briefly discussed. Fluoropolymers Division of the Society of Plastics Industry is an excellent source of additional information. 

The contrasts in textural, mineralogical, and organic maturity between indurated and plastic clays will also cause the two types of material to evolve differently in the future. When comparing the suitability of plastic or indurated clays as possible hosts for radioactive waste repositories, it is important to understand and predict these different behaviours. The present bias in favour of our understanding of plastic clays needs to be redressed by further studies of indurated argillaceous lithologies. 

The need for replacements of objects currently derived from nonregenerable materials (most plastics, rubbers, elastomers, metals) with objects derived from regenerable materials is critical and must be continually emphasized 1n our research efforts. It 1s the editor s opinion that this 1s one of the future areas of science which offers the greatest lasting benefits to society. 

Our long-range energy future clearly must be safe nuclear energy, which should increasingly free still remaining fossil fuels as sources for convenient transportation fuels and as raw materials for synthesis of plastics, chemicals, and other substances. Eventually, however, in the not too distant future we will need to make synthetic hydrocarbons on a large scale. 

Beyond this initial theoretical drawing-board-and-slide-rule approach, of course, lies the critical need for experimental proof in actual process machinery and prototype field trials, which should be included as a 4th dimension in such a schematic diagram, and is the final pragmatic judgment to determine technical success of any plastic product. This is the direction in which applications research and product design must grow in the future, in order to convert plastics art into plastic science. 

Wilkinson and Lamb 1999). The use of DEHP in domestically produced teethers and rattles has been discontinued (Consumer Product Safety Commission 1999d). DEHP is also no longer used as a plasticizer in plastic food wrap products (Mannsville Chemical Products Corporation 1999). In addition, some applications, like automobile upholstery, might switch from DEHP to linear phthalates because of their superior performance and low toxicity, which will put further downward pressure on DEHP use (Mannsville Chemical Products Corporation 1999). Finally, in the future, polyolefin metallocene plastomers might replace flexible applications for PVC altogether because they provide flexibility without the need for plasticizers. 

Finally, in some of the most widely used classical models - the free-volume models of Fujita, Vrentas and Duda and their alternatives (171-175) - more than a dozen structural and physical parameters are needed to calculate the free-volume in the penetrant polymer system and subsequently the D. This might prove to be a relatively simple task for simple gases and some organic vapors, but not for the non-volatile organic substances (rest-monomers, additives, stabilizers, fillers, plasticizers) which are typical for polymers used in the packaging sector. As suggested indirectly in (17) sometimes in the future it will maybe possible to calculate all the free-volume parameters of a classical model by using MD computer simulations of the penetrant polymer system. 

Lastly we examine attempts to design structures for particular functions, namely, films that act as barriers and capsules that contain bioactive substances. In the future, we will need to create novelty in the long-term stability of products and delivery of specific molecules for a health benefit. These technologies are attracting attention not only from the food industry but also for nonfood use. Sustainable and environmentally friendly attributes of biomaterials are increasingly discussed, compared to petrochemically derived, synthetic polymers and plastics. For once, food materials scientists can teach other industries the rules of the game. ... 

The author is well aware of the fact that many aspects which have been treated in the extensive literature on extrinsic crazing have not been considered in this article and that more information is needed for a comprehensive account of the observed craze phenomenon. For instance the recent work on the intrinsic crazing of PC and on related phenomena which has been re wed here has primarily been based on structural considerations. It is believed that future work on the kinetics of craze formation and on the underlying molecular dynamics of the system may contribute considerably to a more detailed account of this phenomenon. Nevertheless, it is hoped that this work has opened up some new paths which may lead to a better understanding of the phenomenon of cavitational plasticity in polymers. 

Modem Erlenmeyer flasks and beakers have approximate volume calibrations fused into the glass, but these are very approximate. Somewhat more accurate volumetric measurements are made in the 10-mL graduated cylinders. For volumes less than about 4 mL, use a graduated pipette. Never apply suction to a pipette by mouth. The pipette can be fitted with a small rubber bulb. A Pasteur pipette can be converted into a calibrated pipette with the addition of a plastic syringe body [see Fig. 11(d)] or you can calibrate it at 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 ml and put three file scratches on the tube this eliminates the need to use a syringe with this Pasteur pipette in the future. Also see the Pasteur pipette calibration marks in the back of this book. You should find among your equipment a 1-mL pipette, calibrated in hundredths of a milliliter [Fig. 11(a)]. Determine whether it is designed to... 

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