Exercise 1

Composite materials

Advanced materials
Transportation vehicles Nonrenewable resources Organic compound Nuclear energy

Raw materials
Recycling technology

Exercise 2
engineering materials high-tech materials processing visible light clay minerals environmental quality nonmetallic elements fiberglass impurity implant

Unit 3/ Lesson 1 polymer

www.polymer.cn
http://www.agpa.uakron.edu/p16/whatarepolymers/intro/player.html

Questions for discussion

What do the terms of PE,PU,PVC stand for? Can you list some other polymers you know Can you give a definition for polymer? What are oligomers and macromers?

Can you list some polymers?

Polymers are all around us. They are the main components of food (starch/, protein), clothes (silk, cotton, polyester, nylon), dwellings (wood-cellulose/, paints) and also our bodies (nucleic acids, polysaccharides, proteins).

No distinction is made between biopolymers and synthetic polymers.

Can you give a definition for polymer?

The definition of a polymer is a substance, -R-R-R-R-,or in general -[R]n-, where R is a bifunctional entity (or bivalent radical /) which is not capable of a separate existence where n is the degree of polymerization, DPn

Polymers are constructed from monomer units, connected by covalent bonds.

Can you give a definition for polymer?

This definition excludes simple organic and inorganic compounds, e.g. CH4, NaCl, and also exclude materials like diamond, silica and metals which appear to have the properties of polymer, but are capable of being vaporized into monomer units.
CH4NaCl

Oligomers and macromers

The molecular weight (MW) can be obtained from the MW of the monomer multiplied by n. When the value of n is small, say 2~20 the substances are called oligomers /, often these oligomers are capable of further polymerizations and are then referred to as macromers.

A polymer with a MW of 107, if fully extended, should have a length of ~1mm and a diameter of ~0.5nm. This is equivalent insize to uncooked spaghetti~2km in length. However, in reality, in bulk polymers the chain is never fully extended

How to determine the movements of polymer chains?

I.
II. III. IV.

Temperature

Chemical make-up of the backbone C-C-C- chain; whether the chain is flexible (aliphatic structure) or rigid (aromatic) The presence or absence of side-chains on the backbone The inter-polymer chain attraction (weakdipole/dipole, H-bonding or strong covalent bonds, cross-linking)

I.

The molecular weight (MW) and molecular weight distribution (MWD) of polymer

Some properties of polymers

Nearly all of the properties of polymers can be predicted if the above factors are known.

Amorphous or partially crystalline Melting temperature of the crystalline phase (Tm) Brittle or tough Rigidity or stiffness

dissolubility

Thermoplastic and thermosetting

Polymers are really effect chemicals in that they are used as materials, with each application requiring different polymer properties. Plastics, fibers, films, elastomers , adhesives, paints, etc.,

How many groups of polymers are mentioned?

Economics, that is the cost of making and fabricating the polymer is of prime importance. This has led to a rough grouping of polymers into:
Commodity polymers Engineering polymers Advanced polymeric materials

Commodity polymers

Polyethylene

low density polyethylene (LDPE) High density polyethylene (HDPE) Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE)

Polypropylene (PP) Poly vinyl chloride (PVC) Polystyrene (PS)

Each of these is prepared on the 10 million tonnes/year scale. The price is <$1500/tonne.

Engineering polymers

The materials have enjoyed the highest percentages growth of any polymers in the last ten years
and are principally used as replacements for metals for moderate temperature and environmental conditions or they may have outstanding chemical inertness and/or special properties

Engineering Polymers

Low friction polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) Acetal (or polyoxymethylene, POM/) Nylons (polyamides /) Polyethylene or polybutylene terephthalate /(PET or PBT) Polycarbonate (of bisphenol A /A) PC Polyphenylene oxide (PPO /)

The prices are ($3000~$15000)/tonne

Advanced polymeric materials

These have very good temperature stability and when reinforced with fibers (e.g, glass, carbon or Aramid fibres), i.e. composites, they are stronger than most metals on weight/weight basis.

They are usually only used sparingly, often in critical parts of structure.

Their

price can be as high as $150,000/tonne.

Making of polymers

What are the most important parameters in making polymers?

The most important parameters in making polymers are quality control and reproducibility

Why?

They are different from simple organic compounds such as acetone /, where often a simple distillation gives the desired purity. There are many different grades of the same polymer, depending on the final application, e.g., different MW, MWD, extent of branching, crosslinking, etc.,

How to make polymers?

A Polymerization process consist of three stages:

1 2
3 Monomer preparation

Polymerization
polymer recovery

(1) Monomer preparation

This is not discussed here, other than to emphasize that the purity of the monomer is paramount.

(2) polymerization

Uniformity of polymer properties is absolutely necessary

not only includes MW, etc., but other factors such as color, shape of polymer particle ( if not palletized or granulated / ) catalyst residues / odor etc

(2) polymerization

The polymerization operation has to cope with the following parameters

Homogeneous or heterogeneous / reactions

I.

II. In homogeneous system, control the viscosity / III. Most polymerizations are exothermic /, heat has to be removed since most polymerization are performed at constant temperature, isothermal /,heat removal

IV. Control of MW and MWD, branching and cross-linking

(3) polymer recovery

Unless the polymerization takes place in bulk, separation from the solvent has to be carried out.

The conventional methods of recovering chemicals, e.g., crystallization, distillation, adsorption, etc. are not be used because polymers possess properties such as high viscosity and low solubility in solvents, and are sticky and non-volatile.

(3) polymer recovery

Nevertheless, Precipitation by using a nonsolvent followed by centrifuging, or by coagulation of an emulsion or latex and removal the solvent by steam-striping can be used.

Polymerization techniques

Most polymerizations are performed in the liquid phase using either a batch or a continuous process. The continuous method is preferred There are five general methods of polymerization:

bulk or mass
solution slurry or precipitation

suspension or dispersion
emulsion


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