When subjected to temperature

polymer materials is to soften them and

eventually to cause them to form a
viscous melt in the case of thermoplastic
materials, or to form a gel like soft
structure in the case of thermoset
materials.
When subjected to electrical field
• the effect will vary with the structure of the
material.
• if there is a mild dipole induced and virtually

no charge carrier migration, then it is a good

electrical insulator with a low dielectric constant
and good to excellent resistance to dielectric
breakdown.
 When subjected to
electro-magnetic radiation
•the structure which will propagate radiation
is called transparent otherwise opaque.
• many plastics are not only transparent but

they are colourless in that they do not

selectively absorb certain wave lengths of
light in the visible spectrum.
 When subjected to U-V rays
• subjected to chemical change
• activation energy causes breakage and
formation of new bonds
•In some cases the action of the light cause
the release of gaseous products such as HCL
in PVC or the change in some of physical
properties of the material such as impact
strength, tensile strength or some electrical
properties.
 General classifications
based on
•Chemical behavior

Thermoplastic & thermoset

A thermoplastic consists of long,
linear molecules each of which may
side-chains or groups (i.e. branched
are present in the molecules but are
not cross linked).
 When heated the individual chain
slips causing plastic flow. Thus
they can be repeatedly melted and
reshaped by heating and cooling so
that any scrap generated can be
reused. No chemical occurs during
the deformation but it burned
some degree.
 Thermoplastics
can be again classifieds as
commodity and engineering plastics.
The commodity plastics are used where in no-
load or very low load applications, while the
engineering plastics can be designed to carry
loads for a long period of time.
 Commodity plastics can be again classified as
polyolefin’s, styrenic, vinyl, others.
Polyolefin family contains polyethylene (PE),
polypropylene (PP), polybutylene (PB),
polymethylpentene (PMP), ethylene-vinyl acetate
(EVA) etc. Styrenic family contains polystyrene
(PS), styrene-acryonitrile (SAN), styrene-butadiene
(SB), acryonitrile- butadiene -styrene- (ABS) etc.
vinyl family consists of polyvinylchloride (PVC),
chlorinated polyvinylchloride (CPVC),
polyvinylidenechloride ( PVDC), other commodity
thermoplastic contains polymethyl-methacrylate
(PMMA), cellulose acetate, cellulose nitratate etc.
 Engineering plastics contains
acetals, fluoro-plastics, polyamides
(nylons), polyamide-imide,
polyarylates, polycarbonates,
polyesters, polyeterimide,
polyketones, polyphenyleneoxide,
polyphenyleneoxide,
polyphenylenesulfide and sulfone
etc.