Polymer Science and Polymer Chemistry

Polymer Production Methods

Polymers have gone from being cheap substitutes for natural products to providing high-quality options for a wide variety of applications. Further advances and breakthroughs supporting the economy can be expected in the coming years. Polymers are derived from petroleum, and their low cost has its roots in the abundance of the feedstock, in the ingenuity of the chemical engineers who devised the processes of manufacture, and in the economies of scale that have come with increased usage. Polymers constitute a high-value-added part of the petroleum customer base and have led to increasing international competition in the manufacture of commodity materials as well as engineering thermoplastics and specialty polymers.