内容简介

In recent years, the development of new and improved polymers and their application in new and improved products have led to almost unlimited product opportunities. In fact, there are probably few who would not rate this area of product growth as one of the most important industry growth areas. The impact of polymers--plas-tics, elastomers, and composites--in all of their material forms has been little short of phenomenal. New polymers and improvements in established polymer groups regularly extend the performance limits of plastics, elastomers, and composites.These achievements in polymer and plastic technology offer major benefits and opportunities for the myriad of products in which they can be used.
With all of these achievements, however, a major impediment exists to the suc cessful use of plastics, elastomers, and composites in products. This impediment is the lack of fundamental understanding of plastics, elastomers, and composites by product designers. Along with this lack of understanding is the absence of a useful consolidated source of information, data. and guidelines that can be practically used by product designers, most of whom do not "speak plastics." The usual practice is to use random supplier data sheets and data tables for guidance. It is,　therefore, the object of this handbook to present, in a single source, all of the　fundamental infor-mation required to understand the large number of materials and material forms,and to provide the necessary data and guidelines for optimal use of these materials and forms in the broad range of industry products. At the same time, this handbook will be invaluable to the plastics industry in acquainting its specialists with product requirements for which they must develop, manufacture, and fabricate plastic mate-rials and forms.