Synthetic polymers commercial advantages

A fourth conclusion, based on the advantages of the use of solid adsorbents, is the gradual replacement of solvent extractions with solid phase extractions. The movement toward this replacement is already evidenced by the commercial availability of several different cartridges of bonded phases and high-surface-area synthetic polymers. 

What all flame retardants have in common is that they start to decompose when heated. A critical factor in the selection of a flame retardant is therefore its thermal stability with respect to that of the polymer. The ideal situation is when the flame retardant decomposes at about 50 % below the combustion temperature of the polymer. This is the case with most organic bromine compounds and most synthetic polymers [1]. In addition, brominated flame retardants are economically feasible, and they have little effect on the flexibility of the base compounds [16]. Because of the advantages mentioned above, the commercial use of brominated compounds is attractive. 

Phenolic resins are the oldest synthetic polymers. They were synthesised in the 19th century and their commercial value identified as early as 1905, with Bakelite. Traditional engineering uses for these thermosetting materials include moulding materials, grinding wheels, foundry binders and friction material binders. All these applications took advantage of the material s excellent heat and dimensional stability and adhesive qualities. 

Neoprene elastomer was first synthesized in the 1930s and became the first synthetic elastomer to provide significant advantages over natural mbber. The monomer for neoprene is 2-chloro-l,3-butadiene and the polymer is prepared by emulsion polymerization. Being inherently a latex polymer may have been thought to provide commercial advantage over the solvent-based versions, but it was found that the tack properties and the ability of the adhesive to form a quick bond with itself... 

Commercial polymers generated totally or partially from renewable resources will remain a very small component in the production of plastics, rubbers, and fibers, in the near future. However, their importance and marketability will continue to grow. They provide environmental and potentially economic advantages over their counterpart generated entirely from fossil raw materials. In addition, they offer more readily desirable properties such as biodegradability and biocompatibility that are more difficult to achieve with synthetic polymers. With extensive ongoing research and development pertaining to new catalysts that will enable the incorporation/ modification of renewable monomers into feedstocks as well as the development of new metabolic microbial pathways for the bio-production of monomers, the field will continue to advance to achieve production costs of polymers from renewable resources that are reasonably competitive. 

Among the different pressure sensitive adhesives, acrylates are unique because they are one of the few materials that can be synthesized to be inherently tacky. Indeed, polyvinylethers, some amorphous polyolefins, and some ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers are the only other polymers that share this unique property. Because of the access to a wide range of commercial monomers, their relatively low cost, and their ease of polymerization, acrylates have become the dominant single component pressure sensitive adhesive materials used in the industry. Other PSAs, such as those based on natural rubber or synthetic block copolymers with rubbery midblock require compounding of the elastomer with low molecular weight additives such as tackifiers, oils, and/or plasticizers. The absence of these low molecular weight additives can have some desirable advantages, such as ... 

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