Everywhere you look you will find plastics. We use plastic products to help make our lives cleaner, easier, safer and more enjoyable. You will find plastics in the clothes we wear, the houses we live in, and the cars we travel in. The toys we play with, the televisions we watch, the computers we use and the CDs we listen to contain plastics. Even the toothbrush you use every day contains plastics!
Plastics are organic, the same as wood, paper or wool. The raw materials for plastics production are natural products such as cellulose, coal, natural gas, salt and, of course, crude oil. Plastics are today’s and tomorrow’s materials of choice because they make it possible to balance modern day needs with environmental concerns.
The plastics family is quite diverse, and includes:
All these types of plastics can can be grouped into two main polymer
families: Thermoplastics, which soften on heating and then harden again
on cooling, and Thermosets which never soften when they have been
moulded.
Examples of Thermoplastics
- Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene – ABS
- Polycarbonate - PC
- Polyethylene - PE
- Polyethylene terephthalate - PET
- Poly(vinyl chloride) - PVC
- Poly(methyl methacrylate) - PMMA
- Polypropylene - PP
- Polystyrene - PS
- Expanded Polystyrene - EPS
Examples of Thermosets
- Epoxide (EP)
- Phenol-formaldehyde (PF)
- Polyurethane (PUR)
- Polytetrafluoroethylene - PTFE
- Unsaturated polyester resins (UP)
A range of additives are used to enhance the natural properties of
the different types of plastics - to soften them, colour them, make them
more processable or longer lasting. Today not only are there many different types of plastics, but products can be made rigid or
flexible, opaque, transparent, or coloured; insulating or conducting;
fire-resistant etc., through the use of additives.