Author	Birley, A. W. author
Title	Plastic Materials [electronic resource] : Properties and Applications / by A. W. Birley, R. J. Heath, M. J. Scott
Imprint	Dordrecht : Springer Netherlands, 1991
Edition	Second Edition
Connect to	http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-7614-9
Descript	X, 198 p. 85 illus. online resource

Plastics are part of everyday life and contribute immensely to the benefit of humanity. When failures occur, they are due in part either to inferior properties (resulting from poor design or badly controlled processing), or to an incomplete understanding of the properties and applications of plastics materials. Since publication of the first edition, the plastics industry has increasยญ ingly adopted advanced business procedures and automation (such as closed loop control and robotics), to combat the effects of recession, and has moved increasingly towards methods based on sound scientific and technological principles. Plastics have increasingly been used in appliยญ cations once dominated by the use of metals and ceramics. For instance, in the automotive industry, the modern car now contains a much higher proportion of polymers, including commodity plastics and more specยญ ialized materials. In addition, compact discs are being made from new injection-moulding grades of polycarbonate, which meet the requirements of a demanding process. This second edition has been thoroughly revised and extended to include new materials, technologies and design concepts. Chapters on thermoplastics reflect the development of polymer blends and alloys, whilst the chapters devoted to thermosets have been reorganized to accommodate the renaissance in the applications of phenolics and to cover the growing importance of polyurethanes. The related twoยญ component process technologies are now included; having undergone major developments in the last decade, they have become important shaping processes

1 Introduction -- 1.1 Background -- 1.2 Structure and properties of plastics -- 1.3 Additives -- 1.4 Processing of plastics -- 1.5 Practical methods of processing -- 1.6 Interactions between shaping process and plastics materials -- Further reading -- 2 Fundamentals of design -- 2.1 Engineering design -- 2.2 Design limitations imposed by processing method -- 2.3 Product design -- 2.4 Importance of economics of processing in design -- Further reading -- 3 Styrene plastics -- 3.1 Polystyrene -- 3.2 High impact polystyrene -- 3.3 Styrene copolymers -- 3.4 ABS plastics -- 3.5 Polystyreneโ{128}{148}poly(phenylene oxide) blends -- 4 Other amorphous thermoplastics -- 4.1 Poly(methyl methacrylate) -- 4.2 Cellulose plastics -- 4.3 Polycarbonates -- 5 Propylene plastics -- 5.1 Homopolymer and impact-modified grades -- 5.2 Filled polypropylene -- 5.3 Foamed polypropylene -- 5.4 Miscellaneous applications of propylene polymers -- 6 Other polyolefin plastics -- 6.1 Polyethylene -- 6.2 Ethylene copolymers -- 6.3 Polybut-1-ene -- 6.4 Poly-4-methylpent-1-ene -- 7 Other crystalline thermoplastics -- 7.1 Polyamides -- 7.2 Thermoplastic polyesters -- 7.3 Polyacetals -- 8 Vinyl chloride plastics -- 8.1 Unplasticized poly(vinyl chloride) -- 8.2 Plasticized poly(vinyl chloride) -- 8.3 Vinyl chloride copolymers -- 8.4 Blends of poly(vinyl chloride) -- 8.5 Vinylidene chloride polymers and copolymers -- 9 Speciality thermoplastics -- 9.1 Fluoroplastics -- 9.2 Polysulphones -- 9.3 Poly(phenylene sulphide) -- 10 Cross-linked plastics -- 10.1 Introduction -- 10.2 Phenol-formaldehyde plastics -- 10.3 Urea-formaldehyde plastics -- 10.4 Melamine-formaldehyde plastics -- 10.5 Unsaturated polyester resins -- 10.6 Epoxide resins -- 11 Polyurethane plastics -- 11.1 Introduction -- 11.2 Molecular structureโ{128}{148}property relationships -- 11.3 Properties and applications of polyurethanes -- Further reading