Plastics are polymers?
3 years ago
All plastics are polymers, but not all polymers are plastics. The term plastics usually refers to synthetic polymers. Most plastics derive from oil. Monomers, the building blocks used in the synthesis of polymers, are in fact normally obtained by chemically transforming the light fractions of oil.
Natural polymers, such as proteins and DNA, which are spontaneously synthesized by living organisms, are not considered plastics.
What are the properties of plastics?
Different types of plastics have different chemical and physical properties. However, they normally share many general properties, such as:
- Plastics are light materials.
- Depending on the chemical structure, they can easily melt and flow. Therefore, they are often easily moldable, and their processing cost is low. For the same reason they easily deform under the action of heat.
- They are good thermal and electrical insulators.
- Several plastics are transparent and wear resistant.
- They resist to impacts and do not rust.