Polymer Science and Technology

A capsule chronology of polymer technology and science is given in Table 1.4. Winfield [6] presented an annotated retrospective look at the history of plastics, 

1770 Priesfley is said to have given rubber its name because it can erase pencil marks 

1806 Gough (England) experiments with elasticity of natural rubber 

1838 Regnault (France) polymerizes vinylidene chloride via sunlight 

1839 Goodyear (the United States), Macintosh and Hancock (England), vulcanization 

About a century ago, when the unique properties of natural polymers were recognized, the term colloid was proposed to distinguish them from materials that could be obtained in crystalline form. It was soon recognized that certain crystalline substances could be transformed into colloids and the concept of a colloidal state of matter was developed. Collodial particles were considered to be built up of a large number of small molecules, by physical association. This concept, which was extended to cover the naturally occurring polymers, was to a very great extent responsible for the delay in the development of a polymer science. 

Early industrial developments in the field of polymer science and technology were concerned with the modification and utilization of natural polymers. The commercial production of purely synthetic polymers was started in the early 1900s, when some commercially important polymers were prepared. It was the late 1930s and the beginning of the Second World War that saw the development of all but a handful of the wide variety of synthetic polymers now in commercial use. 

Subsequent developments in polymer science are so diverse as to be beyond the scope of this book and are accessible through several monographs and edited works (Mark 1940 Marked/., 1964 Flory, 1953 Huggins, 1958 Fettes, 1964 Miller, 1966 Ravve, 1967 Billmeyer, 1971). 

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K. Tanaka and Y. Uchiyrma, in Advances in Polymer Friction and Wear, Lieng-Huang Lee, ed.. Polymer Science and Technology, Vol. 5B, Plenum, New York, 1974. 

J. P. Eouassier and J. E. Rabak, eds.. Lasers in Polymer Science and Technology Applications, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fla., 1989. 

G. H. Pearson, in M. D. Baijal, ed.. Plastics Polymer Science and Technology,]ohxi Wiley Sons, Inc., New York, 1982. 

CRANK, J., and PARK, J, s., Dijfusion in Polymers, Academic Press, London and New York (1968) GARDON, J. L., Article enlilled Cohesive Energy Density in Encyclopaedia of Polymer Science and Technology, Vol. 3, p. 833, Interscience, New York (1969)... 

Encyclopaedia of Polymer Science and Technology Vols. 14 and 15, Wiley-Interscience, New York (1971)... 

KOHAN, M. I., Nylon Plastics Fiandbook, Carl Hanser Verlag Munich, Vienna, New York (1995) NELSON, w. E., Nylon Plastics Technology, Newnes-Butterworths, London (1976) viEWEG. R., and muller, a.. Polyamide, Carl Hanser Verlag, Munchen (1966) (in German) Encyclopaedia of Polymer Science and Technology, Vol. 10, 347-615. Wiley-Interscience, New York (1965)... 

GANDiNi, A. furan resins , Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Technology (2nd Edition), Vol. 7, pp. 454-73, John Wiley, New York (1987)... 

Consisting of 17 volumes which were produced between 1985 and 1990 these provide the most comprehensive source of information generally on plastics and polymers. This replaced the Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Technology published during the 1960s which although clearly more dated is in the writer s view more comprehensive. 

Colas, A., Silicones preparation et performances. Chim. Nouv., 8(30), 847-852 (1990). Clarson, S.J. and Semiyen, J.A., Siloxane Polymers, Polymer Science and Technology Series. PTR Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1993. 

Fried. J.R., Polymer Science and Technology. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. 1995. Chapter I. 

G. Oster, and N. Yang, Chemical Reviews, 68 125 (1968). G. Oster, Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Technology, John Wiley Sons, New York, 10 145 (1969). 

E. M. Abdel-Bary, E. A. Abdel-Razik, M. M. Ali, and M. I. Ahmed, Proceedings 3rd Arab International Conference on Polymer Science and Technology 4-7 September, Mansoura, Egypt (1995). VII, p. 265. 

C. D. Rudd, Hand book of Polymer Fibre Composites, (F. R. Jones, ed.). Polymer Science and Technology Series (1994). 

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