Polymers have for lengthy been a fundamental element of our everyday lives because of this that examples is found almost ubiquitously. We generally an impact leading us to think that polymers are simply just plastics useful for packaging, in household objects and for making fibres, however, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Polymers are employed in all sorts of applications you will possibly not have thought much about. This website enlightens you in regards to the story behind polymers and how it’s got evolved since to serve several functions across a host of industries.
Origin of polymer science
Humans have got benefit of the flexibility of polymers for centuries as oils, tars, resins and gums. However, it was not prior to the industrial revolution that the polymer industry started to realize. Actually, the birth of polymer science might be traced back to the mid-nineteenth century. In the 1830s, Charles Goodyear developed the vulcanization procedure that transformed the sticky latex of natural rubber in a useful elastomer for tire use. In 1909, Leo Hendrik Baekeland designed a resin from two quite normal chemicals, phenol and formaldehyde. The reaction between both of these chemicals led the way to build up a resin, called Bakelite, named after him. It turned out this resin that served as a harbinger to many of the common polymers we use today. The saying “polymer” comes from the Greek roots “poly” and “mer,” which assembled means “many parts.” Polymeric substances consist of several chemical units called monomers, which are joined together into large molecular chains comprising a large number of atoms.
Classification of polymers
Based on their origin, acrylic sheet can be classified as natural or synthetic polymers. Natural polymers are those polymers that appear in nature and that which are isolated from plant and animal resources. Starch, cellulose, proteins, natural rubber etc. are a couple of examples of natural polymers. Though they’re processed to have the product, considering that the basic material comes from a natural source, these polymers are termed as natural polymers. Natural rubber originating from tree latex it’s essentially a polymer produced from isoprene units having a tiny proportion of impurities inside it.
On this context, biopolymers will also be significant. There exists large number of biopolymers for example polysaccharides, polyesters, and polyamides. They may be naturally made by microorganisms. The genetic manipulation of microorganisms makes way for enormous possibility of the biotechnological output of biopolymers with tailored properties well suited for high-value medical application for example tissue engineering and drug delivery.
Synthetic polymers, as their name indicates, are synthesized in the laboratory or factory by having a group of chemical reactions from low molecular weight compounds. From the functional standpoint they could be classified into four main categories: thermoplastics, thermosets, elastomers and synthetic fibres. Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is but one such thermoplastic made by the polymerization of the monomer, methyl methacrylate (MMA). PMMA is often generally known as acrylic plastic and lends its properties with a various consumer product applications. Being both a thermoplastic and transparent plastic, acrylic is utilized extensively in the automotive industry in trunk release handles, master cylinder, and dashboard lighting. Consumer products which use a constituent component of acrylic plastic include aquariums, motorcycle helmet lenses, paint, furniture, picture framing, and umbrella clamps, and the like.
Some of the other synthetic polymers we use in us include Nylons, found in fabrics and textiles, Teflon, found in non-stick pans and Polyvinyl Chloride, found in pipes.
Like a leading manufacturer of SUMIPEX® PMMA polymer, Sumitomo Chemical is happy to help you out to understand its properties as a synthetic polymer. To learn more, find us here.
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