ECE Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Extrusion, Polypropylene, Vinyl Chloride
Document Summary
A polymer is a large molecule or a macromolecule which essentially is a combination of many subunits. The term polymer in greek means many parts". From the strand of our dna which is a naturally occurring biopolymer to polypropylene which is used throughout the world as plastic. A polymer is a chemical compound with molecules bonded together in long, repeating chains. Because of their structure, polymers have unique properties that can be tailored for different uses. Rubber, for example, is a natural polymeric material that has been used for thousands of years. It has excellent elastic qualities, the result of a molecular polymer chain created by mother nature. Another natural polymer is shellac, a resin produced by the lac bug in india and thailand, which is used as a paint primer, sealant, and varnish. Polymerization is the method of creating synthetic polymers by combining smaller molecules, called monomers, into a chain held together by covalent bonds.
