An Overview for the General Reader The fact that silicone rubber boots made those footprints on the moon, and that other silicone polymers made possible the construc tion and functioning of space suits and space vehicles, has led to the general belief that silicones are very modem materials conjured up to meet the needs of space travel. Actually, though, silicone chemis try has deep roots in human history, dating from the dawn of the race and extending through all of geology, mineralogy, and the ancient ceramic arts. This little book seeks to put the development of silicone materials in perspective as part of the fascinating involvement of the element silicon in our daily lives, from the stuff the earth and the moon are made of to the modem use of ultra pure silicon in transistors and computers, and the use of ordi nary elementary silicon to make silicone rubber, silicone oil, sili cone resins, and silicon or silicone-containing polishes, drugs, and fragrances. Of course these are not our only connections with silicon. The natural compounds of silicon and oxygen (the silicates) are the starting materials for making bricks, tile, cement, glass, and a host of modem ceramic products. The widespread usefulness of silicon and its compounds comes about for two reasons: first, there is so much of it, and second, it is so versatile.

About ten years after the publication of the Second Edition (1973), it became apparent that it was time for an up-date of this book. This was especially true in this case, since the subject matter has traditionally dealt mainly with the structure, properties, and technology of the various elastomers used in industry, and these are bound to undergo significant changes over the period of a decade. In revising the contents of this volume, it was thought best to keep the orig inal format. Hence the first five chapters discuss the same general subject matter as before. The chapters dealing with natural rubber and the synthetic elastomers are up-dated, and an entirely new chapter has been added on the thermoplastic elastomers, which have, of course, grown tremendously in importance. Another innovation is the addition of a new chapter, "Miscellaneous Elastomers," to take care of "old" elastomers, e.g., polysulfides, which have decreased some what in importance, as well as to introduce some of the newly-developed syn thetic rubbers which have not yet reached high production levels. The editor wishes to express his sincere appreciation to all the contributors, without whose close cooperation this task would have been impossible. He would especially like to acknowledge the invaluable assistance of Dr. Howard Stephens in the planning of this book, and for his suggestion of suitable authors."

This book is derived from a Symposium held at the 190th National American Chemical Society Meeting, which was held in the Fall of 1985, in Chicago, and was sponsored by the Division of Polymeric Materials: Science & Engineering. This Symposium was, in turn, a follow-up on an earlier one held in Houston, TX, in the Spring of 1980, which was pub lished as the book *Biomedical and Dental Applications of Polymers* [Plenum Press, New York, 1981]. In that earlier book, our opening Preface passage quoted King David, *1 will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and made . ** * (Psalm 139:14). As we noted five years ago, sickness wonderfully of many types does occur in our wonderfully made bodies, but much human suffering can be aided by biomedical polymers. That earlier book con sidered much of the fantastic progress that had been made in biomedical polymers during the previous quarter century and brought many of these topics up to date. That Symposium, and book, noted that much help was available for the varied afflictions and problems that sometimes beset, and upset, our God-given bodies, and the promise of new and important advances was held out as a shining ray of hope amidst the gloom of sickness and affliction. The present volume is an update on the advances that have occurred since the 1981 book and sets the stage for even greater advances in the future.

Scientific and Commercial Information for More Than 1,000 Polymers Polymers: A Property Database, Second Edition offers a central and reliable source for scientific and commercial information on more than 1,000 polymers. Revised and updated throughout, this edition features 25% new material, including 50 entirely new entries that reflect advances in areas such as conducting polymers, hydrogels, nano-polymers, and biomaterials. The second edition also comes with unlimited access to a complete, fully searchable Web version of the reference. Powerful retrieval software allows users to customize their searches and refine results. Each entry includes trade names, properties, manufacturing processes, commercial applications, supplier details, references, and links to constituent monomers. Buy the latest print edition and gain access to a complete, fully searchable Web version of the reference, enhanced with powerful retrieval software that allows you to customize searches and refine results. Unlimited access to the Online Version for the lifetime of the Second Edition Revised, Updated, and Expanded with 25% New Material Includes 50 entirely new entries reflecting the latest polymer advances Special Introductory Price! Buy today and SAVE! Purchase the NEW Edition in Print AND Online -For One Price!

During the past two decades Membrane Science and Technology has made tremendous progress and has changed from a simple laboratory tool to large scale processes with numerous applications in Medicine and Industry. In this volume are collected papers presented at the First Europe Japan Congress on Membrane and Membrane processes, held in Stresa in June 1984. Other contributions to the Conference will be published in a special issue of the Journal of Membrane Science. This Conference was organized by the European Society of Membrane Science and Technology and the Membrane Society of Japan, to bring together European Scientists and Engineers face to face with their colleagues from Japan; in both countries membrane processes will play a strategic role in many industrial areas in the 1990s, as predicted by the Japanese project for Next Generation Industries and by the EEC Project on Basic Techno logical Research (BRITE). The large number of participants, of about four hundred from twenty six countries including USA, Australia, China and Brazil, the quality of the Plenary Lectures and Scientific Communications made the Conference a significant international success."

Including chemical, synthetic, and cross-disciplinary approaches; this book includes the necessary techniques and technologies to help readers better understand polymers for polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells. The methods in the book are essential to researchers and scientists in the field and will lead to further development in polymer and fuel cell technologies.- Provides complete, essential, and comprehensive overview of polymer applications for PEM fuel cells- Emphasizes state-of-the-art developments and methods, like PEMs for novel fuel cells and polymers for fuel cell catalysts- Includes detailed chapters on major topics, like PEM for direct liquid fuel cells and fluoropolymers and non-fluorinated polymers for PEM- Has relevance to a range of industries - like polymer engineering, materials, and green technology - involved with fuel cell technologies and R&D

The policy adopted in Volume 1 of this series of including a relatively small number of topics for detailed review has been continued here. The techniques selected have received considerable attention in recent years. F or this reason and because of the significance of the characterisation data, further coverage of 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and small angle neutron scattering is given in the first two chapters. In Chapter I a large part of the review describes the determination of monomer sequence distributions and configurational sequences in copolymers formed from more than one polymerisable monomer. The review on neutron scattering (Chapter 2) is directed towards the determination of the chain conformation in semi-crystaIIine polymers, which has provided important results for the interpretation of chain folding and morphology in crystaIIisable polymers. Laser Raman spectroscopy has also been used for morphological studies, and this application together with a description of the theoretical and experimental aspects of the technique is given in Chapter 3. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy because of its extreme sensitivity to surface characteristics has provided information on polymeric solids that could not be obtained by other techniques. The principles and practice of this ESCA technique, including its use for simple elemental analysis, structural elucidation and depth profiling, are described in Chapter 4. The final two chapters are mainly concerned with the chain conformation of polymers in dilute solution. Ultrasonic techniques (Chapter 5) show pmmise for observing the dynamics of conformational changes.

The articles collected in this publication have previously been published in eight special issues of the Journal of Biomaterials Science, Polymer Edition, in honour of Dr. Allan S. Hoffman, who is known as a pioneer, a leader and a mentor in the field of biomaterials. The papers from renowned scientists from all parts of the world, representing the state-of-the-art in polymeric biomaterials today, have been rearranged into a logical order of sections, each having a distinct focus. The topics covered are: Surface Modification, Characterization and Properties; Protein Adsorption; Blood Interactions; Cell Interactions; Immobilized Cell Receptor Ligands and Immobilized Cells; Immobilized Biomolecules and Synthetic Derivatives of Biomolecules; New Polymers and Applications; Biodegradable Polymers and Drug Delivery; Water-Soluble Biomolecules, Sunthetic Polymers, and their Conjugates; Hydrogels.

Written in 1942-43, this book explores France and French culture at a time when France seemed cut off. The book is obsessed with the pleasures of life at a time when nearly all pleasures were forbidden. It proclaims its faith in the unity and continuity of Western culture in its moment of greatest crisis in the war years. Connnolly assumed the name of Palinurus - Aeneas' pilot - to suggest the core of melancholy which lies at the heart of this book. A lament for a vanishing world, this book is also a spiritual odyssey, a meditation on literature, love, nature and religion and a collection of aphorisms and epigrams. By the author of The Rock Pool, Enemies of Promise and The Evening Colonnade.

Polymers are permeable, whilst ceramics, glasses and metals are gener ally impermeable. This may seem a disadvantage in that polymeric containers may allow loss or contamination of their contents and aggressive substances such as water will diffuse into polymeric struc tures such as adhesive joints or fibre-reinforced composites and cause weakening. However, in some cases permeability is an advantage, and one particular area where this is so is in the use of polymers in drug delivery systems. Also, without permeable polymers, we would not enjoy the wide range of dyed fabrics used in clothing and furnishing. The fundamental reason for the permeability of polymers is their relatively high level of molecular motion, a factor which also leads to their high levels of creep in comparison with ceramics, glasses and metals. The aim of this volume is to examine some timely applied aspects of polymer permeability. In the first chapter basic issues in the mathema tics of diffusion are introduced, and this is followed by two chapters where the fundamental aspects of diffusion in polymers are presented. The following chapters, then, each examine some area of applied science where permeability is a key issue. Each chapter is reasonably self-contained and intended to be informative without frequent outside reference. This inevitably leads to some repetition, but it is hoped that this is not excessive."

As naturally occurring and abundant sources of non-fossil carbon, lignin and lignans offer exciting possibilities as a source of commercially valuable products, moving away from petrochemical-based feedstocks in favour of renewable raw materials. Lignin can be used directly in fields such as agriculture, livestock, soil rehabilitation, bioremediation and the polymer industry, or it can be chemically modified for the fabrication of specialty and high-value chemicals such as resins, adhesives, fuels and greases. Lignin and Lignans as Renewable Raw Materials presents a multidisciplinary overview of the state-of-the-art and future prospects of lignin and lignans. The book discusses the origin, structure, function and applications of both types of compounds, describing the main resources and values of these products as carbon raw materials. Topics covered include: Structure and physicochemical properties Lignin detection methods Biosynthesis of lignin Isolation methods Characterization and modification of lignins Applications of modified and unmodified lignins Lignans: structure, chemical and biological properties Future perspectives This book is a comprehensive resource for researchers, scientists and engineers in academia and industry working on new possibilities for the application of renewable raw materials. For more information on the Wiley Series in Renewable Resources, visit www.wiley.com/go/rrs

Liquid crystal displays were discovered in the 1960s, and today we continue to enjoy the benefits of that fundamental discovery and its translation into a wide variety of products. Like liquid crystals, polymers are unusual materials, and have similarly enjoyed a great deal of research attention because of their vast applications and uses and complex fundamental properties. The combination of liquid crystal and polymer properties produces a broad array of new effects-spanning from densely crosslinked, rigid polymer networks to weakly crosslinked elastomers-that are not simply manifestations of either native liquid crystals or polymers alone. Cross-Linked Liquid Crystalline Systems brings together liquid crystal and polymer systems and their variations. The field, much like traditional liquid crystals, is one of an interdisciplinary nature with a broad spectrum, from the very fundamental questions of nature to a myriad of practical uses. There seems to be no shortage of unusual properties and far-reaching applications in densely crossed-linked liquid crystal systems and liquid crystal elastomers. These systems provide a rich new avenue for both fundamental and applied research and continue to fascinate scientists and engineers. Specifically, this book covers: Cross-linked networks created from reactive mesogen materials Manipulation of liquid crystalline by external constraints Advances in liquid crystal display screen technology Physical and electromagnetic properties of elastomers and magnetic gels Computer simulations and theory of liquid crystal polymeric networks and elastomers Side-on nematic liquid-crystalline elastomers for artificial muscle applications Liquid crystal display technology has driven much of the fundamental research in crosslinked liquid crystalline systems. The systems' ability to enforce three-di

Syndiotactic Polystyrene (SPS), synthesized in a laboratory for the first time in 1985, has become commercialized in a very short time, with wide acceptance on the global plastics market. Written by leading experts from academia and industry from all over the world, "Syndiotactic Polystyrene" offers a comprehensive review of all aspects of SPS of interest to both science and industry, from preparation and properties to applications.

This essential reference to SPS covers:

The preparation of syndiotactic polystyrene by half-metallocenes and other transition metal catalysts

The structure and fundamental properties, especially morphology and crystallization and solution behavior

The commercial process for SPS manufacturing

Properties, processing, and applications of syndiotactic polystyrenes

Polymers based on syndiotactic polystyrenes, for example, by functionalization and modification, and nanocomposites

Ideal for polymer chemists, physicists, plastics engineers, materials scientists, and all those dealing with plastics manufacturing and processing, this important resource provides the information one needs to compare, select, and integrate an appropriate materials solution for industrial use or research.

* It has been rumored that a bumble bee has such aerodynamic deficiencies that it should be incapable of flight. Fiberglass-reinforced polymer com posites, similarly, have two (apparently) insurmountable obstacles to per formance: 1) Water can hydrolyze any conceivable bond between organic and inorganic phase, and 2) Stresses across the interface during temperature cycling (resulting from a mismatch in thermal expansion coefficients) may exceed the strength of one of the phases. Organofunctional silanes are hybrid organic-inorganic compounds that are used as coupling agents across the organic-inorganic interface to help overcome these two obstacles to composite performance. One of their functions is to use the hydrolytic action of water under equilibrium condi tions to relieve thermally induced stresses across the interface. If equilib rium conditions can be maintained, the two problems act to cancel each other out. Coupling agents are defined primarily as materials that improve the practical adhesive bond of polymer to mineral. This may involve an increase in true adhesion, but it may also involve improved wetting, rheology, and other handling properties. The coupling agent may also modify the inter phase region to strengthen the organic and inorganic boundary layers."