Plastic
is the common name for Polymers- a polymer is a material made up
of long chains of chemically linked individual molecules or monomers-
the word Poly comes from the Greek word for many. Polymerization
is the name given to the process of linking the individual monomers
together into chains. Different plastics are made by linking together
different monomers into different length chains. Most plastic is
made from oil, although biodegradable plastics can be made from
substances such as corn starch. Plastics tend to divided into two
groups- thermoplastics soften with heat and harden when cooled and
examples are polyvinyl chloride (PVC), acrylic, and teflon. Thermosetting
plastics are hardened by heat and examples are epoxy and polyester.
One of the most common plastics is PVC as it can be mixed with different
additives to give a range of properties. This plastic is made by
the polymerization of the vinyl chloride monomer.
The advantages of plastics include their strength, their moldibility,
light weight, color, cheap price, toughness, insulating properties
and versatility.
