THERMOPLASTICS

I'm just guessing that everyone out there

knows what plastic is. We call plastics plastic
because they are pliable, that is, they can be
shaped and moulded easily. As plastics become
easier to mould and shape when they're hot,
and melt when they get hot enough, we call
them thermoplastics. This name can help you
tell them apart from crosslinked materials that
don't melt, called thermosets.
 definition
A thermoplastic is a plastic that softens when heated
and hardens again when cooled. Thermoplastics can
generally go through many melt/freeze cycles with no
appreciable chemical change, making them suitable for
recycling. These characteristics also lend thermoplastics
to various manufacturing techniques; injection
moulding, thermoforming and welding. Many
thermoplastic materials are addition polymers
 (chain growth polymers), such as polyethylene and
polypropylene. Thermoplastic Polymers are contrasted
with thermosetting polymers, which cannot go through
melt/freeze cycles.
Thermoplastics can be classified
into 2 main groups:
Commodity Plastics:
Plastics that are used in high volume and wide
range of applications, such as film for packaging,
photographic and magnetic tape, beverage and
trash containers and a variety of household products
where mechanical properties and service
environments are not critical. Such plastics
exhibit relatively low mechanical properties and are
of low cost.
Examples of commodity plastics are:
Polyethylene (PE)
Polypropylene (PP)
Polystyrene (PS)
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)
Engineering Plastics:
Engineering plastics are a group of plastic 
materials that exhibit superior mechanical and
thermal properties in a wide range of conditions
over and above more commonly used
commodity plastics. The term usually refers to
themoplastic materials rather than thermosetting on
Engineering plastics are used for parts rather than
containers and packaging.
Examples of engineering plastics include:
» Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS)
» Polycarbonates (PC)
» Polyamides (PA)
» Polybutylene terephthalate (PBT)
» Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)
» Polyphenylene oxide (PPO)
» Polysulphone (PSU)
» Polyetherketone (PEK)
» Polyetheretherketone (PEEK)
» Polyimides
» Polyphenylene sulfide (PPS)
 Any
Question?