Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
In materials science, a thermosetting polymer, often called a thermoset, is a polymer that is obtained by irreversibly hardening ("curing") a soft solid or viscous liquid prepolymer . [1] Curing is induced by heat or suitable radiation and may be promoted by high pressure or mixing with a catalyst .
In chain-growth (or chain) polymerization, the only chain-extension reaction step is the addition of a monomer to a growing chain with an active center such as a free radical, cation, or anion. Once the growth of a chain is initiated by formation of an active center, chain propagation is usually rapid by addition of a sequence of monomers.
There is no agitation in this type of bulk polymerization. This is often used to synthesize cross-linked and thermosetting polymers. Due to dormant nature of the system, the Trommsdorff effect is significantly present, which in turn leads to longer chains and tougher material. The major disadvantages of this type of polymerization include ...
In this state, thermoplastics may be reshaped, and are typically used to produce parts by various polymer processing techniques such as injection molding, compression molding, calendering, and extrusion. [3] [4] Thermoplastics differ from thermosetting polymers (or "thermosets"), which form irreversible chemical bonds during the curing process ...
Polymer morphology is a microscale property that is largely dictated by the amorphous or crystalline portions of the polymer chains and their influence on each other. Microscopy techniques are especially useful in determining these microscale properties, as the domains created by the polymer morphology are large enough to be viewed using modern ...
Thermoplastic polymer materials melt upon heating and become viscous liquids, whereas thermosetting polymer materials remain solid as a result of cross-linking. [2] Thermoplastics consist of long polymer chains that are stiff at service temperatures but become softer with increasing temperature.
Curing is a chemical process employed in polymer chemistry and process engineering that produces the toughening or hardening of a polymer material by cross-linking of polymer chains. [1] Even if it is strongly associated with the production of thermosetting polymers , the term "curing" can be used for all the processes where a solid product is ...
The pioneer of synthetic polymer science, Wallace Carothers, developed a new means of making polyesters through step-growth polymerization in 1930s as a research group leader at DuPont. It was the first reaction designed and carried out with the specific purpose of creating high molecular weight polymer molecules, as well as the first ...