Learning about
plastics
Take a look around you! Chances are high that
you will find at least one thing made of plastic material. Plastics are
used everywhere these days. They help to make our lives easier,
safer, more convenient, and more enjoyable. Plastics provide an
environmentally sound and cost-effective solution for many design
challenges and technology breakthroughs. Think about the clothes we
wear, the houses we live in, and how we travel. Think also about our
leisure pursuits, the televisions we watch, the computers we use and the
CDs we listen to. Whether we are shopping in a supermarket, having
major surgery or merely brushing our teeth, plastics are part of our
lives!
Plastics
in your life!
From electrical appliances, to
medical equipment, packaging, automobiles and space travel, plastics are
an essential part of our lives. Why? Because plastics are versatile,
lightweight, safe, durable, and cost
efficient!
Versatile!
Plastics can be formed into an
enormous variety of complex shapes and facilitate design solutions in
thousands of applications. They are rigid or flexible, solid or porous.
Just think of the difference between a telephone, a bottle and a
plastics bag to see the sort of variety that
exists.
Lightweight!
Compared
with other materials plastics are very light.
This provides a
number of
advantages:
- Less raw
material consumed
- Less energy in production
- Easier handling/carrying
- Less
fuel in transport
- Less air pollution in transport
Safe!
Plastics provide hygienic and
protective solutions. Although they are lightweight, plastics are also
extremely strong, which means they can be used in the most demanding of
situations. As they are shatterproof and can be made almost unbreakable,
plastics are widely used in areas where safety is of utmost importance -
e.g. food and drink packaging and healthcare. Many of the new safety
features in modern cars rely heavily on
plastics.
Durable!
Plastics
provide durable and tough solutions. They do not corrode or decompose
with the passage of time. Durability and weather resistance means they
are ideal for long-life applications like building and construction,
keeping maintenance to a minimum - e.g. exterior or underground cables
and pipes. Plastics can absorb impact through knocks and bumps, making
them ideal for the exterior parts of lighter cars. The use of
engineering plastics has become essential in many critical automotive
applications.
Cost efficient!
Plastics reduce
production and supply-chain costs in several ways. They reduce energy
used in manufacture and enable complex shapes to replace
multi-components assemblies. High-speed form-fill-seal packaging lines
increase factory throughputs and avoid wasteful operations such as
moving empty containers. Plastics' light weight reduces fuel consumption
during transport.