Modern Plastics Handbook

Abstract

The Modern Plastics Handbook has been prepared as a third member of the well-known and highly respected team of publications which includes Modern Plastics magazine and Modern Plastics World Encyclopedia. The Modern Plastics Handbook offers a thorough and comprehensive technical coverage of all aspects of plastics materials and processes, in all of their forms, along with coverage of additives, auxiliary equipment, plastic product design, testing, specifications and standards, and the increasingly critical subject of plastics recycling and biodegradability. Thus, this Handbook will serve a wide range of interests. Likewise, with presentations ranging from terms and definitions and fundamentals, to clearly explained technical discussions, to extensive data and guideline information, this Handbook will be useful for all levels of interest and backgrounds. These broad objectives could only have been achieved by an outstanding and uniquely diverse group of authors with a combination of academic, professional, and business backgrounds. It has been my good fortune to have obtained such an elite group of authors, and it has been a distinct pleasure to have worked with this group in the creation of this Handbook. I would like to pay my highest respects and offer my deep appreciation to all of them. The Handbook has been organized and is presented as a thorough sourcebook of technical explanations, data, information, and guidelines for all ranges of interests. It offers an extensive array of property and performance data as a function of the most important product and process variables. The chapter organization and coverage is well suited to reader convenience for the wide range of product and equipment categories. The first three chapters cover the important groups of plastic materials, namely, thermoplastics, thermosets, and elastomers. Then comes a chapter on the all important and broad based group of additives, which are so critical for tailoring plastic properties. Following this are three chapters covering processing technologies a