TABLE OF CONTENTS It would be hard to imagine a modern society today without plastics. Plastics have found a myriad of uses in fields as diverse as household appliances, packaging, construction, medicine, electronics, and automotive and aerospace components. As can be seen from this list, plastic technology can be applied with great success in a variety of ways.
So what makes plastic such a versatile material?
The reason for its success in replacing traditional materials such as metals, wood and glass in such a diverse range of applications, is the ability to modify its properties to meet a vast array of designers needs. This, plus the ease with which plastics can be processed, makes them ideal materials for the production of a variety of components. A quick rummage around the office soon found a whole host of plastic items, the result is shown in Figure 1.1. Look around and you ll be surprised to see just how many different uses plastics have found and how big a market the plastic industry supports.
The plastic material used to make many of these products is what is called virgin grade. These are materials which have come straight from the polymer manufacturer to the factory and have not yet been processed. If these materials later come to be reprocessed, they are then called recyclates . However not all plastic materials are reprocessed, most are simply thrown away, leading to the need to dispose of them. A continued increase in the use of...
