STUDENT A’ 1. Your partner has just read a short text about thermoplastic. Ask them questions about = its chemical properties, - possible chains associations of the polymers, - differences between thermoplastics and thermosets. 2. Read a short text about thermosetting plastics. Be ready fo answer your partner’s questions. ‘Thermosetting plastics (thermosets) are polymer materials that cure, through the addition of energy, to a stronger form. The energy may be in the form of heat, through a chemical reaction, ér irradiation. Thermoset materials are usually liquid or malleable prior to curing, and are designed to be moulded into their final form, or used as adhesives. The curing process transforms the resin into a plastic or rubber by a cross-linking process. Energy and/or catalysts are added that cause the molecular chains to react at chemically active sites (unsaturated or epoxy sites, for example), linking into a rigid, 3-D structure. The cross-linking process forms a molecule with a larger molecular weight, resulting in a materiat with a higher melting point. During the reaction, when the molecular weight has increased to a point so that the melting point is higher than the ambient temperature, the material forms into @ solid material. Subsequent uncontrolled reheating of the material results in reaching the decomposition temperature before the melting point is obtained. A thermoset material cannot be melted and re-shaped after itis cured. STUDENT B 1. Read a short text about thermoplastic. Be ready to answer your partner’s questions. A thermoplastic is a material that is plastic or deformable, melts to a liquid when heated and freezes to a brittle, glassy state when sufficiently cooled. Most thermoplastics are high molecular weight polymers whose chains associate through weak van der Waals forces (polyethylene), stronger dipole-dipole interactions and hydrogen bonding (nylon), or even stacking of aromatic rings (polystyrene). Thermoplastic polymers differ from thermosetting polymers (Bakelite; vulcanized rubber) as they can be remelted and remoulded. This is because the polymer chains are not crosslinked, or connected. These thermoplastic polymer chains are like pieces of spaghetti that can slide by each other; the sliding around of these polymer chains is what allows thermoplastics to flow when heated. Many thermoplastic materials are addition polymers, ¢.g. vinyl chain-growth polymers such as polyethylene and polypropylene. - 2. Your partner has just read a short text about thermosetting plastics. Ask them questions about : ~ the role and forms of energy in thermosets, = the role of the curing and cross-linking processes, = chemical properties of thermosets.