Polymer material additives

Polyimides (PI) were among the eadiest candidates in the field of thermally stable polymers. In addition to high temperature property retention, these materials also exhibit chemical resistance and relative ease of synthesis and use. This has led to numerous innovations in the chemistry of synthesis and cure mechanisms, stmcture variations, and ultimately products and appHcations. Polyimides (qv) are available as films, fibers, enamels or varnishes, adhesives, matrix resins for composites, and mol ding powders. They are used in numerous commercial and military aircraft as stmctural composites, eg, over a ton of polyimide film is presently used on the NASA shuttle orbiter. Work continues on these materials, including the more recent electronic apphcations. 

The metal parts of the injection molder, ie, the liner, torpedo, and nozzle, that contact the hot molten resin must be of the noncatalytic type to prevent accelerated decomposition of the polymer. In addition, they must be resistant to corrosion by HCl. Iron, copper, and zinc are catalytic to the decomposition and caimot be used, even as components of alloys. Magnesium is noncatalytic but is subject to corrosive attack, as is chromium when used as plating. Nickel alloys such as Duranickel, HasteUoy B, and HasteUoy C are recommended as constmction materials for injection-molding metal parts. These and pure nickel are noncatalytic and corrosion-resistant however, pure nickel is rather soft and is not recommended. 

The membrane is usually made from one of several materials. Woven polyester or cotton, the most commonly used and least expensive material, is adequate for temperatures up to 150°C. Siatered plastic is used where a low cost, washable surface is desired. This material is temperature limited by the polymer material to about 60°C and the flow of some powders may cause a static charge build-up on the membrane that could be hazardous ia some operatioas. Wovea fiberglass fabric or porous ceramic block is used for temperatures up to about 425°C. Siatered stainless steel powder or bonded stainless mesh is used for corrosion resistance, and for temperatures up to 530 to 650°C. Additional information can be found ia the Hterature (38,39). 

In a commercial plastics material there are also normally a number of other ingredients present and these may also be affected by the above agencies. Furthermore they may interact with each other and with the polymer so that the effects of the above agencies may be more, or may be less, drastic. Since different polymers and additives respond in different ways to the influence of chemicals and radiant energy, weathering behaviour can be very specific. 

Plastics materials, in general are blends of polymers with additives and the latter may well affect the modulus. One simple law of use here relates the modulus of the blend or composite to the modulus of the polymer Ep and of the additive by the equation... 

The polymers are of interest as water-soluble packaging films for a wide variety of domestic and industrial materials. (Additional advantages of the poly(ethylene oxide)s are that they remain dry to the feel at high humidities and may be heat sealed.) The materials are also of use in a number of solution application such as textile sizes and thickening agents. As a water-soluble film they are competitive with poly(vinyl alcohol) whereas in their solution applications they meet competition from many longer established natural and synthetic water-soluble polymers. 

The words polymers and plastics are often taken as synonymous but in fact there is a distinction. The polymer is the pure material which results from the process of polymerisation and is usually taken as the family name for materials which have long chain-like molecules (and this includes rubbers). Pure polymers are seldom used on their own and it is when additives are present that the term plastic is applied. Polymers contain additives for a number of reasons. The following list outlines the purpose of the main additives used in plastics. 

Examples of commonly used viscosity control additives are calcium ligno-sulfonate, sodium chloride and some long-chain polymers. These additives also act as accelerators or retarders so care must be taken in designing the cement slurry with these materials. 

Molecular hybrids between organic polymers and silica gel are expected to show many possibilities as new composite materials. First, the hybrids may show intermediate properties between plastics and glasses (ceramics). In addition, the composition of the hybrids can be widely varied. In other words, the hybrids can be used to modify the organic polymer materials or to modify the inorganic glassy materials. The hydrophilic modification as described before is a typical example. 

In summary, the historical material about polymers was not as fraitful in the way we used it. Both theories seemed to be useful and convincing for the students. Obviously, both theories are complex and could indeed explain the observed phenomena. The need for modem techniques of analyses becomes obvious, which have also been the important step in the history of polymer theories. Additionally, these results might also show that students are not used to evaluating and comparing different theories. 

It is equally important for the manufacturer and regulator to know the level of additives in a polymer material to ensure that the product is fit for its intended purpose. Additive analysis marks sources of supply, provides a (total) process signature and may actually be used as a fingerprint of a polymeric material, in particular as molecular characterisation of the polymer... 

Alternative approaches consist in heat extraction by means of thermal analysis, thermal volatilisation and (laser) desorption techniques, or pyrolysis. In most cases mass spectrometric detection modes are used. Early MS work has focused on thermal desorption of the additives from the bulk polymer, followed by electron impact ionisation (El) [98,100], Cl [100,107] and field ionisation (FI) [100]. These methods are limited in that the polymer additives must be both stable and volatile at the higher temperatures, which is not always the case since many additives are thermally labile. More recently, soft ionisation methods have been applied to the analysis of additives from bulk polymeric material. These ionisation methods include FAB [100] and LD [97,108], which may provide qualitative information with minimal sample pretreatment. A comparison with FAB [97] has shown that LD Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (LD-FTTCR) is superior for polymer additive identification by giving less molecular ion fragmentation. While PyGC-MS is a much-used tool for the analysis of rubber compounds (both for the characterisation of the polymer and additives), as shown in Section 2.2, its usefulness for the in situ in-polymer additive analysis is equally acknowledged. 

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