Commodity polymers

Commodity and engineering polymers. On the basis of end use and economic considerations, polymers can be divided into two major classes commodity plastics and engineering polymers. Commodity plastics are characterized by high volume and low cost. They are used frequently in the form of disposable items such as packaging film, but also find application in durable goods. Commodity plastics comprise principally of four major thermoplastic polymers polystyrene, polyethylene, polypropylene, and poly(vinyl chloride). 

Workshop on Future Trends in Polymer Science tmd Technology. Polymers Commodities or... 

All three big companies faced major postwar challenges. They remained far behind their American rivals in commercializing products from the new polymer/petrochemical technologies. They possessed none of the basic petroleum raw materials, nor had they developed and begun to commercialize on any scale the new polymer commodities and end-products. 

The ICI and Unilever negotiations were consummated by early May. ICI paid Unilever 8.1 billion for the properties. Then ICI sold its polyester chain, —including polymer commodities, intermediates, and film—and its titanium dioxide division to Du Pont for 3 billion (see Chapter 3). Another 1.7 billion resulted from the sale of other businesses, primarily its Australian subsidiary, which was spun off as a leveraged buyout (LBO). ... 

Following the war, Solvay expanded its output in its European factories and built new ones in Italy, Greece, and other countries. It maintained ties with all its earlier allies except, of course, with Russia, where its properties had been confiscated. Before World War I, however, it had done little to commercialize new chemicals through process technologies, as Dow had done in the United States. But it did move into polymer/petrochemicals quickly after World War II. In 1949 Solvay initiated the production of polyvinyl chloride, becoming a European leader in that basic polymer commodity. The company then entered into the production of HDPB in 1959 and PP in 1966. Shortly thereafter, it began to produce a variety of end-products in the manner of the American companies for use in both consumer and industrial chemical lines. In 1974 Solvay returned to the U.S. markets, setting up headquarters in Deer Park, Texas. By that time its soda ash and caustic soda processes had become obsolete.3 ... 

Within the specific context of this chapter, renewable resources represent the obvious answer to the quest for macromolecular materials capable of replacing their fossil-based counterparts [2, 3]. This is not as original as it sounds, because, apart from the role of natural polymers throughout our history evoked above, the very first synthetic polymer commodities, developed during the second half of the nineteenth century, namely cellulose esters, vulcanized natural rubber, rosin derivatives, terpene resins , were all derived from renewable resources. What is new and particularly promising, has to do with the growing momentum that this... 

Martuscelh E., Marchetta, C., and Nicolais, L., Future Trends in Polymer Science and Technology — Polymers Commodities or Specialties Technomics, Lancaster (1987). 

Cater for all levels from craftsmen to higher degree level Cover the total range of polymers (commodities to composites)... 

Trains of up to 12 large CSTRs are used in the production of waterborne polymer commodities such as SBR [65]. Large CSTRs are not well adapted to the production of specialties because of the difficulties associated with grade transitions. Flexibility significantly increases by decreasing the average residence time in the CSTR. Thus, the production of a family of specialty emulsion polymers in a single CSTR has been reported [66]. 

Type IV. Once in a while, the polymer blend may exhibit properties greater than either of the individual polymers, a major synergistic improvement in practical utility. The leading example of this phenomenon is the use of finely dispersed rubbery domains to increase the impact strength of a brittle glassy matrix polymer. Commodity examples are... 

Physical properties of PHAs and some polymer commodities, adapted from. Hazer and Steinbiichel. ° ... 

Natural Synthetic Polymers Commodity Polymers, Matbase. http //www.matbase.com/material-categories/natural-and-synthetic-polymers/ commodity-polymers/... 

Polyethylene (PE) is a genetic name for a large family of semicrystalline polymers used mostiy as commodity plastics. PE resins are linear polymers with ethylene molecules as the main building block they are produced either in radical polymerization reactions at high pressures or in catalytic polymerization reactions. Most PE molecules contain branches in thek chains. In very general terms, PE stmcture can be represented by the following formula ... 

Most Kaminsky catalysts contain only one type of active center. They produce ethylene—a-olefin copolymers with uniform compositional distributions and quite narrow MWDs which, at their limit, can be characterized by M.Jratios of about 2.0 and MFR of about 15. These features of the catalysts determine their first appHcations in the specialty resin area, to be used in the synthesis of either uniformly branched VLDPE resins or completely amorphous PE plastomers. Kaminsky catalysts have been gradually replacing Ziegler catalysts in the manufacture of certain commodity LLDPE products. They also faciUtate the copolymerization of ethylene with cycHc dienes such as cyclopentene and norhornene (33,34). These copolymers are compositionaHy uniform and can be used as LLDPE resins with special properties. Ethylene—norhornene copolymers are resistant to chemicals and heat, have high glass transitions, and very high transparency which makes them suitable for polymer optical fibers (34). 

A plasticizer is a substance the addition of which to another material makes that material softer and more flexible. This broad definition encompasses the use of water to plasticize clay for the production of pottery, and oils to plasticize pitch for caulking boats. A more precise definition of plasticizers is that they are materials which, when added to a polymer, cause an increase in the flexibiUty and workabiUty, brought about by a decrease in the glass-transition temperature, T, of the polymer. The most widely plasticized polymer is poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) due to its excellent plasticizer compatibility characteristics, and the development of plasticizers closely follows the development of this commodity polymer. However, plasticizers have also been used and remain in use with other polymer types. 

Over 70% of the total volume of thermoplastics is accounted for by the commodity resins polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, and poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) (1) (see Olefin polymers Styrene plastics Vinyl polymers). They are made in a variety of grades and because of their low cost are the first choice for a variety of appHcations. Next in performance and in cost are acryhcs, ceUulosics, and acrylonitrile—butadiene—styrene (ABS) terpolymers (see... 

Acrylic ESTER POLYMERS Acrylonitrile POLYMERS Cellulose esters). Engineering plastics (qv) such as acetal resins (qv), polyamides (qv), polycarbonate (qv), polyesters (qv), and poly(phenylene sulfide), and advanced materials such as Hquid crystal polymers, polysulfone, and polyetheretherketone are used in high performance appHcations they are processed at higher temperatures than their commodity counterparts (see Polymers containing sulfur). 

Poly(vinyl chloride). PVC is one of the most important and versatile commodity polymers (Table 4). It is inherently flame retardant and chemically resistant and has found numerous and varied appHcations, principally because of its low price and capacity for being modified. Without modification, processibiUty, heat stabiUty, impact strength, and appearance all are poor. Thermal stabilizers, lubricants, plasticizers, impact modifiers, and other additives transform PVC into a very versatile polymer (257,258). 

The level of technical service support provided for a given product generally tracks in large part where the suppHer considers thek product to be located within the spectmm of commodity to specialty chemicals. Technical service support levels for pure chemicals usually provided in large quantities for specific synthetic or processing needs, eg, ammonia (qv), sulfuric acid (see SuLFURic ACID AND SULFURTRIOXIDe), formaldehyde (qv), oxygen (qv), and so forth, are considerably less than for more complex materials or blends of materials provided for multistep downstream processes. Examples of the latter are many polymers, colorants, flocculants, impact modifiers, associative thickeners, etc. For the former materials, providing specifications of purity and physical properties often comprises the full extent of technical service requked or expected by customers. These materials are termed undifferentiated chemicals (9),... 

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