Polymers have for very long been a fundamental piece of our everyday lives a case in point that examples is found almost ubiquitously. We have an effect leading us to think that polymers are simply plastics utilized for packaging, in household objects and for making fibres, however, this is just the tip in the iceberg.

Polymers are widely-used in all sorts of applications you do not have thought much about. This web site enlightens you regarding the story behind polymers and just how it has evolved since to offer several functions across a number of industries.
Origin of polymer science
Humans have got good thing about the versatility of polymers for centuries available as oils, tars, resins and gums. However, it was not prior to the industrial revolution that the polymer industry began to develop. In reality, the birth of polymer science could possibly be traced back to the mid-nineteenth century. From the 1830s, Charles Goodyear developed the vulcanization procedure that transformed the sticky latex of natural rubber into a useful elastomer for tire use. In 1909, Leo Hendrik Baekeland created a resin from two quite typical chemicals, phenol and formaldehyde. The reaction between both of these chemicals led the way to add mass to a resin, called Bakelite, named after him. It turned out this resin that served like a harbinger to numerous in the common polymers that individuals use today. The phrase “polymer” hails from the Greek roots “poly” and “mer,” which come up with means “many parts.” Polymeric substances are composed of numerous chemical units called monomers, that are joined together into large molecular chains consisting of thousands of atoms.
Classification of polymers
Judging by their origin, methyl methacrylate resin could be classified as synthetic or natural polymers. Natural polymers are the ones polymers that appear in nature and that that are isolated from plant and animal resources. Starch, cellulose, proteins, natural rubber etc. are several samples of natural polymers. Though these are processed to get the end result, because the basic material develops from a natural source, these polymers are known as natural polymers. Natural rubber coming from tree latex it’s essentially a polymer made out of isoprene units which has a tiny proportion of impurities in it.
With this context, biopolymers will also be significant. There’s huge variety of biopolymers for example polysaccharides, polyesters, and polyamides. These are naturally created by microorganisms. The genetic manipulation of microorganisms makes way for enormous prospect of the biotechnological creation of biopolymers with tailored properties well suited for high-value medical application for example tissue engineering and drug delivery.
Synthetic polymers, as his or her name indicates, are synthesized inside the laboratory or factory via a number of chemical reactions from low molecular weight compounds. Through the functional viewpoint they could be classified into four main categories: thermoplastics, thermosets, elastomers and synthetic fibres. Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is certainly one such thermoplastic created by the polymerization in the monomer, methyl methacrylate (MMA). PMMA is commonly known as acrylic plastic and lends its properties into a number of consumer product applications. Being both a thermoplastic and transparent plastic, acrylic can be used extensively inside the automotive industry in trunk release handles, master cylinder, and dashboard lighting. Consumer products that use a constituent part of acrylic plastic include aquariums, motorcycle helmet lenses, paint, furniture, picture framing, and umbrella clamps, amongst others.
A number of the other synthetic polymers that individuals use in our everyday life include Nylons, used in fabrics and textiles, Teflon, used in non-stick pans and Polyvinyl Chloride, used in pipes.
Like a leading manufacturer of SUMIPEX® PMMA polymer, Sumitomo Chemical is happy to help you out understand its properties like a synthetic polymer. To learn more, find us here.
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