Engineering applications of polymers and composites

Polymeric products are used widely in the construction industry, because they offer a range of desirable performance properties not available from traditional materials.

This publication presents the proceedings of ICPMSE-3, the third international conference on Protection of Materials and Structures from the Low Earth Orbit Space Environment, held in Toronto April 25-26, 1996.

In Ionic Polymerization and Related Processes, internationally recognised academic and industrial researchers discuss and debate the latest developments in the field.

Investigation of the structure and function of biological molecules through spectroscopic methods is a field rich in revealing, clever techniques and demanding experiments.

In an area as vast and important as rheology, it is essential that the experimentalist understands the underlying theories and shortcomings of the measurement technique used, that they are aware of the likely microstructure of the fluid under study and that from this they can appreciate how the fluid and the measuring system interact with each other.

Blends of natural rubber with speciality synthetic rubbers, such as nitrile rubber and ethylene propylene rubbers, have, in the past, failed to combine the best properties of polymers, resulting in a poor return in terms of added value from the blending process.

Resin Transfer Moulding and other similar 'liquid moulding' manufacturing methods have been used to make non-structural composites for the last 35 years.

The first edition of this book (1958) described an analytical situation which had existed for a number of years for maintaining quality control on vulcanizates of natural rubber although the situation had recently been disturbed by the introduction of a range of synthetic rubbers which required identification and quantitative estimation.

My heart sank when I was approached by Dr Hastings and by Professor Briggs (Senior Editor of Materials Science and Technology and Series Editor of Polymer Science and Technology Series at Chapman & Hall, respectively) to edit a book with the provisional title Handbook of Poly- propylene.

BACKGROUND Polysiloxanes have chains constructed of alternately arranged silicon and oxygen atoms with organic groups attached to the silicon atoms.

Supercritical fluids are neither gas nor liquid, but can be compressed gradually from low to high density and they are therefore interesting and important as tunable solvents and reaction media in the chemical process industry.

The purpose of this publication is two-fold.

The importance of oil in the world economy cannot be overstated, and methods for recovering oil will be the subject of much scientific and engineering research for many years to come.

Existing surfactants directories tend to focus on product identification by tradename, producer or chemical type, enabling the user only to identify product equivalents and surfactant suppliers.

The aim of this monograph has been to distil into a single volume, in an easily read and assimilated format, the essentials of this often complex technology such that it is usable by all technical and semi-technical people who wish to become their own polyurethane and polyurethane elastomer expert.

During the last decade, various powerful experimental tools have been developed, such as small angle X-ray and neutron scattering, X-ray and neutron reflection from interfaces, neutron spin-echo spectroscopy and quasi-elastic multiple light scattering and large scale computer simulations.

Foreword: Charles J.

Surface Active Agents (surfactants) are vital components in biological systems, form key ingredients in consumer products and play an important role in many industrial processes.

Organized on a product category basis, this volume provides an up-to-date review of the cosmetics and toiletries industry in a readily digestible form.

There is little wonder in the fact that the investigation of amino acids is of fundamental interest to scientists from so many diversified fields.

P.

Polymers continue to play an ever increasing role in the modern world.

R.

This book is concerned with the configuration of polymers at the interfacial zone between two other phases or immiscible components.

The present book is devoted to a rapidly developing field of science which studies the behavior of viscoelastic materials under the influence of deformation~the rheology of polymers.

Since the discovery that polymer single crystals are composed of chain folded macromolecules in 1957, the crystallization of polymers has attracted considerable interest and still provides fascinating and fruitful areas of research.

The series of Conferences on the Spectroscopy of Biological Molecules aims to stimulate research and development in this area of Science.

In Uses of Immobilized Biological Compounds the reader will find a comprehensive survey of the field written by acknowledged experts who met in Brixen, Italy, between May 9 and 14, 1993 for a NATO Advanced Research Workshop devoted to the topic.

The subject of liquid crystals and their use in electronic displays and in non-linear optical systems has become of tremendous importance during the last decade; and the incorporation of liquid crystal units into polymeric materials has led to a group of new materials with diverse properties.

The chemistry of transition metal carbyne complexes has become a highly attractive field during the past twenty years.

Polymer composites represent materials of great and of continuously growing importance.

Although the research actIvItIes of dyestuff chemists worldwide have been influenced to a great extent, in recent years, by the need to respond to a variety of environmental issues associated with the manufacture and application of synthetic dyes and pigments, a significant level of targeted research continues to be devoted to new chemistry aimed at enhancing the technical properties of dyes in commerce.

The awareness and development of 'biodegradable' surfactants pre-dates current pressures by the environmental movement by nearly three decades, wherein a responsible industry mutually agreed to replace 'hard', non-biodegradable com- ponents of household detergents by 'soft', biodegradable alternatives, without course to legislation.

Approximately half of the world production of the petrochemical industry (more than 100 million tonnes) is in the form of polymers, yet it would probably surprise most people to learn how much their lifestyle depends on polymers ranging, as they do, from detergents, kitchenware and electrical appliances to furnishings and a myriad other domestic goods.

After epoxy resins and polyimides, cyanate esters arguably form the most well-developed group of high-temperature, thermosetting polymers.

The analysis of surfactants presents many problems to the analyst.

During the last two decades, the production of polymers and plastics has been increasing rapidly.

A comprehensive encyclopaedic dictionary on polymer technology with expanded entries - trade name and trade marks, list of abbreviations and property tables.

The last decade or so has seen a dramatic increase in the amount of detailed structural information available from a range of experimental techniques.

This monograph presents theoretical and experimental studies of flows of elastic liquids.

Foams are gas filled integral structures in which the gas is finely dispersed throughout acontinuouslyconnected solid phase.

Corrosion behaviour is one of the most poorly understood characteristics of ceramics.

Liquid-crystalline phases are now known to be formed by an ever growing range of quite diverse materials, these include those of low molecular weight as well as the novel liquid-crystalline polymers, such phases can also be induced by the addition of a solvent to amphiphilic systems leading to lyotropic liquid crystals.

How did life begin on the Earth?

Since 1971 when useful working concepts for the technique of phase-transfer catalysis (PTC) were introduced, the understanding, development, and applica- tions of this method for conducting organic reactions has expanded exponentially.

Microbes are known to live in an enormous range of environments.

The outlook of organic synthesis has changed many times during its tractable history.

The field of "e;Oxygen Activation"e; has attracted considerable interest recently, not only because it presents challenges in those fields of basic research that aim to understand the fundamental aspects of chemical and biological reactions that involve dioxygen, but also because of its wide range of practical implications in such diverse fields as medicine, synthesis of pharmaceuticals and other organic compounds, materials science, and atmospheric science.

Few polymer chemists have much familiarity with recent developments in the synthesis of speciality polymers.