Biopolymers, Natural Polymers And artificial Polymers Explained

Polymers have for lengthy been a fundamental element of our everyday lives so much so that examples are available almost ubiquitously. We are apt to have an impact that leads us to imagine that polymers are simply plastics used for packaging, in household objects as well as for making fibres, but this is just the tip from the iceberg.


Polymers are widely-used in all sorts of applications you will possibly not have thought much about. This web site enlightens you in regards to the story behind polymers and just how it’s got evolved ever since to provide several functions across quite a few industries.
Origin of polymer science
Humans took benefit of the flexibility of polymers for years and years in the form of oils, tars, resins and gums. However, it wasn’t before industrial revolution how the polymer industry started to realize. In reality, the birth of polymer science may be traced time for the mid-nineteenth century. Inside the 1830s, Charles Goodyear developed the vulcanization process that transformed the sticky latex of natural rubber into a useful elastomer for tire use. In 1909, Leo Hendrik Baekeland created a resin from two common chemicals, phenol and formaldehyde. The reaction between those two chemicals paved the way to build up a resin, called Bakelite, named after him. It was this resin that served like a harbinger to many from the common polymers that people use today. The term “polymer” comes from the Greek roots “poly” and “mer,” which come up with means “many parts.” Polymeric substances are made of countless chemical units called monomers, which are joined together into large molecular chains comprising a large number of atoms.
Classification of polymers
Based on their origin, acrylic glass could be regarded as synthetic or natural polymers. Natural polymers are the types polymers that exist in nature and that which are isolated from plant and animal resources. Starch, cellulose, proteins, natural rubber etc. are some types of natural polymers. Though they are processed to have the end product, since the basic material comes from a natural source, these polymers are called as natural polymers. Natural rubber originating from tree latex is actually a polymer created from isoprene units with a small percentage of impurities in it.
With this context, biopolymers are also significant. There exists large number of biopolymers such as polysaccharides, polyesters, and polyamides. These are naturally manufactured by microorganisms. The genetic manipulation of microorganisms makes means for enormous risk of the biotechnological production of biopolymers with tailored properties suitable for high-value medical application such as tissue engineering and drug delivery.
Synthetic polymers, for their name indicates, are synthesized within the laboratory or factory through a series of chemical reactions from low molecular weight compounds. In the functional standpoint they may be classified into four main categories: thermoplastics, thermosets, elastomers and artificial fibres. Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is certainly one such thermoplastic manufactured by the polymerization from the monomer, methyl methacrylate (MMA). PMMA is frequently called acrylic plastic and lends its properties to some selection of consumer product applications. Being both a thermoplastic and transparent plastic, acrylic can be used extensively within the automotive industry in trunk release handles, master cylinder, and dashboard lighting. Consumer items that use a constituent element of acrylic plastic include aquariums, motorcycle helmet lenses, paint, furniture, picture framing, and umbrella clamps, and the like.
A number of the other synthetic polymers that people use in our everyday life include Nylons, used in fabrics and textiles, Teflon, used in non-stick pans and Polyvinyl Chloride, used in pipes.
As being a leading manufacturer of SUMIPEX® PMMA polymer, Sumitomo Chemical is pleased to assist you in understanding its properties like a synthetic polymer. To find out more, contact us here.
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