General and Environmental Aspects
This chapter defines “Environmentally Friendly Polymer Engineering” as the basic organizational system of the first volume of these two books. The classification of plastics, and a list of their main characteristics, follows. This chapter closes with some economic data.
Addition polymerization (chain reaction, multistep reaction) and condensation polymerization are very briefly summarized from an engineering perspective. The influences of synthesis on opportunities and risks of raw materials for plastics are listed. This chapter closes with some brief examples of plastics chemical production.
The properties of plastics are discussed and summarized, sometimes in comparison with metals and other materials. The temperature and time dependence of the properties related to the polymer structure (thermoplastics, elastomers, thermoplastic elastomers, thermosets, and fiber-reinforced plastics) are dealt with. Additives are discussed in a separate section, Sect. 6 because of the importance of these...
The next step in the engineering cycle after properies is processing. The different process techniques influence the design, properties, and life time of a component during use. Therefore, the opportunities and risks associated with the application of polymer components are also influenced by processing. This chapter summarizes a multitude of processing techniques for the very different kinds and...
Primary forming techniques such as injection molding or extrusion use melts at about 250 °C. This chapter on secondary forming describes the shaping of thermoplastic semi-finished products like foils or sheets above their softening temperature of about 120–180 °C to form three-dimensional moldings.
In the introduction to this book, and to this chapter in particular, the polymer engineering process is presented from a holistic point of view, i.e., with all of its material sources and ramifications. In the sections that follow, this point of view will be demonstrated on the basis of a number of examples of structural component development from the recent past; some of these projects extend into...
The previous chapters have described the opportunities and risks of plastics as materials, whereas in this chapter and the chapters, “Opportunities and Risks Involved in Designing Structural Components Made of Polymers,” “Plastics and Structural Components – The Environment and Recycling,” they will be discussed in terms of the structural components made of plastics. The opportunities often predominate...
Assuming the goal is sustainable development, it is important, when making ecological decisions, not to ignore economic aspects such as value added and profit use, whereby the profit earned could be put to either technical, social, or economic use. A holistic lifecycle approach therefore aims to support or find solutions that are technical feasible, ecologically, and socially defensible and economically...
Herein we discuss once again the importance of the engineering point of view and provide and overview of all the different steps influencing the engineering of components.