Designed as a self-contained reference text, this handbook provides comprehensive coverage of traditional industrial polymers, their properties, and methods of processing; it also covers state-of-the-art polymeric materials, recent trends, and the latest applications. Retaining the easy-to-follow structure of previous editions, this fourth edition features a broadened discussion of polymer foams and foaming processes, a state-of-the-art account of the various available methods for plastics recycling, a myriad of advances in end-use applications — including oxygen scavenging polymers and drug-carriers and drug-targeting polymers — and much more.

From the Preface: “One of the fastest changing fields today is the field of plastics as new polymers are synthesized, new uses are found, and existing processes and products are modified and improved for ecological needs, better economics, and better values. A need has thus been felt to bring out a new edition of the Plastics Technology Handbook, as it has estabilshed itself over the years as an important source book of information on modern plastics...”

Target Audience: Plastics, materials, mechanical, chemical, process, and general engineers; polymer chemists; and upper-level students of these disciplines.

Brief Table of Contents:

Characteristics of Polymers

Fabrication Processes

Plastics Properties and Testing

Industrial Polymers

Polymers in Special Uses

Recycling of Polymers

Trends in Polymer Applications

Appendices

Index