In our daily lives today, plastic is obviously an important substance. Plastic or a mix of plastic and other materials is what many different packages contain. Several products that we use are also made of partly or entirely out of plastics. Plastics have different types of course and each of those plastics has several functions and capabilities.
Organic solids mixed together are what a plastic is in general and it can be formed into a specific shape. These solid objects can be a blend of synthetic or even be entirely synthetic and naturally occurring or semi-synthetic polymers. The majority of plastics are created by the use of synthetic polymers which were extracted from petrochemicals.
In several different ways, plastics are classified and this would include the polymerization process by which the plastic is created, the plastic's processibility and the plastic's chemical nature. Thermoplastic and thermoset plastic are the two categories in which plastic is categorized in terms of processibility.
These plastics have the word thermo in both of them which means that heat is applied to transform these plastics into products or packages. With a thermoplastic, the plastic item can be recycled, melted down and molded into a new product again and again. For the thermoset plastics though this is not the case because when these plastics are heated they undergo a chemical change which means they can't be melted down or reused. Even though plastics are technically not able to be melted down reformed, some can be used again for other purposes. To produce asphalt, vulcanized rubber which is used for tires is shredded and that is used to produce that.
Plastics are further classified by their physical properties beyond those two basic classifications which might include factors such as density, resistance to chemicals, glass transition, temperature and tensile strength. Tensile strength is the maximum amount of stress that the plastic can withstand when you are stretching it without breaking. Basically the temperature at which a substance moves from a hard state into a molten state is the glass transition temperature where it can be molded.
Density in many ways refers to the overall strength, although technically this means the mass per unit volume. Take for instance polypropylene, which is used to make products such as yogurt cups. This has a lower density than acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, which is used to create products such as Lego bricks, some auto parts and a few musical instruments.
One very important classification mentioned above is the resistance to chemicals. Take this as an example: a bottle of bleach that you keep by your washing machine. The chemical which is the bleach liquid is contained in a type of a thermoplastic that is highly resistant to chemicals. The plastic in this case is resistant to bleach; otherwise the bleach could ooze through the plastic and leak from it. It can burn the skin and eyes even though it is a helpful product and is poisonous to humans to it really need to be contained safely. Your yogurt cup does not need to be this resistant to chemicals or the container that holds fruit and vegetables, so a cheaper plastic is used typically.
Organic solids mixed together are what a plastic is in general and it can be formed into a specific shape. These solid objects can be a blend of synthetic or even be entirely synthetic and naturally occurring or semi-synthetic polymers. The majority of plastics are created by the use of synthetic polymers which were extracted from petrochemicals.
In several different ways, plastics are classified and this would include the polymerization process by which the plastic is created, the plastic's processibility and the plastic's chemical nature. Thermoplastic and thermoset plastic are the two categories in which plastic is categorized in terms of processibility.
These plastics have the word thermo in both of them which means that heat is applied to transform these plastics into products or packages. With a thermoplastic, the plastic item can be recycled, melted down and molded into a new product again and again. For the thermoset plastics though this is not the case because when these plastics are heated they undergo a chemical change which means they can't be melted down or reused. Even though plastics are technically not able to be melted down reformed, some can be used again for other purposes. To produce asphalt, vulcanized rubber which is used for tires is shredded and that is used to produce that.
Plastics are further classified by their physical properties beyond those two basic classifications which might include factors such as density, resistance to chemicals, glass transition, temperature and tensile strength. Tensile strength is the maximum amount of stress that the plastic can withstand when you are stretching it without breaking. Basically the temperature at which a substance moves from a hard state into a molten state is the glass transition temperature where it can be molded.
Density in many ways refers to the overall strength, although technically this means the mass per unit volume. Take for instance polypropylene, which is used to make products such as yogurt cups. This has a lower density than acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, which is used to create products such as Lego bricks, some auto parts and a few musical instruments.
One very important classification mentioned above is the resistance to chemicals. Take this as an example: a bottle of bleach that you keep by your washing machine. The chemical which is the bleach liquid is contained in a type of a thermoplastic that is highly resistant to chemicals. The plastic in this case is resistant to bleach; otherwise the bleach could ooze through the plastic and leak from it. It can burn the skin and eyes even though it is a helpful product and is poisonous to humans to it really need to be contained safely. Your yogurt cup does not need to be this resistant to chemicals or the container that holds fruit and vegetables, so a cheaper plastic is used typically.
About the Author:
Lenna Stockwell enjoys blogging about how stuff is made. To get further info about plastic thermoforming or to find out more about retail product packaging solutions, please check out the Indepak.com site now.
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