Handbook of Engineering and Specialty Thermoplastics, Volume 3

Sabu Thomas is a Professor of Polymer Science and Engineering at the School of Chemical Sciences, as well as the Director of Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Mahatma Gandhi University, India. He received his Ph.D. in 1987 in Polymer Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, India. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, London and a member of the American Chemical Society.He has been ranked no. 5 in India with regard to the number of publications (most productive scientists). He also received the coveted Sukumar Maithy Award for the best polymer researcher in the country for the year 2008. The research group of Prof. Thomas has received numerous awards and honors for excellent work in polymer science and engineering. Visakh, P.M is a Research Fellow at the School of Chemical Science Mahatma Gandhi University. He has co-edited several books with Sabu Thomas and has written many journal articles and book chapters. His research interests include: Polymer nanocomposites, Bio-Nanocomposites, Liquid Crystalline Polymers, Rubber based nanocomposites, and Fire retardant polymers.

List of Contributors. 1. Engineering and Specialty Thermoplastics: Polyethers and Polyesters (Sabu Thomas and Visakh P.M.). 1.1 Introduction. 1.2 Polyesters Synthesis. 1.3 Polyethers. 1.4 Individual Polyethers and Polyesters and Their Application. 1.5 New Challenges and Opportunities. 2. Poly(phenylene oxide) (Mong Liang). 2.1 Introduction and History. 2.2 Monomer. 2.3 Polymerization and Mechanism. 2.4 Properties. 2.5 Compounding and Special Additives. 2.6 Processing. 2.7 Applications. 2.8 Environmental Impact and Recycling. 2.9 Recent Developments in Poly Phenylene Oxide Based Blends and Composites and Their Applications. 3. Polyether Ether Ketone (Jinwen Wang). 3.1 Introduction and History. 3.2 Polymerization and Fabrication. 3.3 Properties. 3.4 Chemical Properties. 3.5 Environmental Resistance. 3.6 Compounding and Special Additives. 3.7 Processing. 3.8 Applications. 3.9 Environmental Impact and Recycling. 3.10 Recent Developments in PEEK Based Blends and Composites and Their Applications. 4. Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (Benedicte Lepoittevin and Philippe Roger). 4.1 Introduction and History. 4.2 Polymerization and Fabrication. 4.3 Solid-State Properties. 4.4 Chemical Stability. 4.5 Compounding and Special Additives. 4.6 Processing. 4.7 Applications. 4.8 Environmental Impact and Recycling. 4.9 Recent Developments in Poly(ethylene terephthalate) Based Blends and Composites and Their Applications. 4.10 Recent Advances in Surface Modification of PET Materials. 5. Poly(butylene terephthalate) - Synthesis, Properties, Application (Vesna V. Antio and Marija V. Pergal). 5.1 Introduction and History. 5.2 Polymerization and Fabrication. 5.3 Physical and Chemical Properties. 5.4 Processing. 5.5 Applications. 5.6 Compounding and Special Additives. 5.7 Thermoplastic Polyester Elastomers (TPEE). 5.8 Environmental Impact and Recycling. 5.9 Conclusions. 6. Polyesters Based on Cyclohexanedimethanol (A. Martinez de Ilarduya and S. Munoz Guerra). 6.1. Introduction and History. 6.2 Polymerization and Fabrication. 6.3 Properties. 6.4 Chemical Stability. 6.5 Compounding and Special Additives. 6.6 Processing. 6.7 Applications. 6.8 Environmental Impact and Recycling. 6.9 Recent Developments in Blends and Composites and Their Aplications. 7. Bisphenol-A (Piotr Czub). 7.1 Introduction and History. 7.2 Fabrication Methods. 7.3 Mineral Acid Catalysts. 7.4 Ion-exchange Resin Catalysts. 7.5 Solid Acid Catalysts. 7.6 BPA Yield and Selectivity. 7.7 BPA Waste Disposal. 7.8 Alternative Paths for the BPA Synthesis. 7.9 Properties. 7.10 Applications. 7.11 Environmental and Human Health Impact. 8. Liquid Crystal Polyesters (A.B.Samui and V. Srinivasa Rao). 8.1 Introduction and History. 8.2 Polymerization and Fabrication. 8.3 Properties. 8.4 Chemical and Thermal Stability. 8.5 Compounding and Special Additives. 8.6 Processing. 8.7 Applications. 8.8 Environmental Impact and Recycling. 8.9 Recent Developments in Liquid Crystal Polyesters. 9 Polylactide (Minna Hakkaratnen and Anna Finne-Wistrand). 9.1 Introduction. 9.2 Polymerization and Fabrication. 9.3 Properties. 9.4 Chemical Stability. 9.5 Compounding and Special Additives. 9.6 Processing. 9.7 Applications. 9.8 Environmental Impact and Recycling. 9.9 Recent Developments in Polylactide-based Blends and Their Applications. 10. Thermoplastic Copolyester Elastomers (Jasna Djonlagic and Marija S. Ntkoltc). 10.1 Introduction and History. 10.2 Polymerization and Fabrication of Thermoplastic Copolyester Elastomers. 10.3 Structure of Thermoplastic Copolyester Elastomers. 10.4 Mechanical Properties of Thermoplastic Copolyester Elastomers. 10.5 Thermoplastic Copolyester Elastomers with Different Chemical Composition. 10.6 Chemical Stability of Thermoplastic Copolyester Elastomers. 10.7 Compounding and Special Additives for Therm