POLYMERS

• Polymers are covalently bond

structures.

• Polymers are made up of many

long thin strings of molecules.

• The strings are tangled together.

• Polymers are mainly soft,
weak, brittle and melt at low
temperatures.

• BUT, polymers are highly

flexible.
s tre s s
s e m ic r y s ta llin e
m e ta l

p o ly m e r

s tr a in
• Polymers are flexible
because each polymer
string is very coiled

• A coiled string can become

much longer if it is
straightened.
Polymer.swf
• A polymer string is made
from many covalently joined
molecules.
• Each covalent bond is less strong
than most ionic bonds, but
polymers are much weaker than
other covalently bonded
materials.

• This is because polymer strings

are weakly bonded to each
other.
• There are not many bonds
between each polymer string
(crosslinks), so it is easy to pull
one string away from the strings
around it.

• In some polymers, there are no

covalent bonds between the
strings.
Crosslinks
No crosslinks
• Even when there are no
crosslinks, a polymer still has
some bonding between the
strings however.
• Atoms are weakly attracted to
each other, even if they are not
ionically or covalently bonded.

• This is because atoms can

become polarized.
polarization.swf
polarizationDetail.swf
• Attractions between polarized
atoms are called van der
Waals forces.

• These forces are much weaker

than in other types of bonding.
• When a material is heated, van
der Waals forces must be
overcome to move the particles in
the material.

• This is one reason that less

dense materials (with more
particles per unit volume) have
higher specific heat capacities.
• Van der Waals forces are
weak enough that in a polymer
at high temperature the van
der Waals bonding energy is
negligible compared to kinetic
energy of the polymer’s
particles.
• Polymers with only van der
Waals bonds between strings
are called thermoplastics.

• These can be easily moulded

at high temperatures but set
hard at low temperatures.
• Polymers with covalent
crosslinks are called
thermosets.

• These materials are rigid at

any temperature (up to their
melting point of course).
• Many thermosets have the useful
property that they do not form
strong crosslinks until they are
heated above a certain
temperature.

• This means they can be easily

shaped and then heated to set
them hard. Heating them further
will not make them soften.
• Thermoplastics can either be
amorphous plastics or have
semi-crystalline structures.

• Semi-crystalline polymer
strings keep their shape when
they are stretched beyond an
elastic limit.
• Semi-crystalline plastics can
deform plastically.

• Amorphous plastics stretch

elastically until they reach their
yield point and then immediately
break.

• All thermosets break in this way.

 Elastomers
• Elastomers are polymers that can
extend elastically to strains of
100% or more.

• Elastomers are amorphous and

have a few covalent crosslinks.
• A interesting quality of
elastomers is that they absorb
energy when they are
stretched and relaxed.

• The Young’s modulus of a

stretching elastomer is
different to a relaxing
elastomer.
elastomer.swf
• Notice that the elastomer still
returns to its original length.

• When a quantity is changed

unequally by a process and
the reverse of the process, it is
called hysteresis.
• The hysteresis of elastomers
causes them to heat up when
they are stretched and relaxed.

• The heat generated is then

lost to the surroundings.
COMPOSITE
MATERIALS
• Composites are made of two
parts:
–Matrix
–Reinforce

• In a composite you can easily tell

which part is which– they do not
dissolve or blend into each other.
• The matrix is a fairly soft,
compressible material that
surrounds the reinforce.

• The reinforce is made of thin

lengths of flexible, strong,
tough material.
M a tr ix R e in fo r c e
 Reinforced concrete
• Concrete is a building material that
has different strengths depending on
the direction of the force acting on
it.

• Concrete blocks are strong when

compressed.

• Concrete blocks are weak when

stretched.
 Reinforced concrete
• If a tense steel cable is put inside
the concrete, it will be strong
when placed under tension.

• The composite of steel and

concrete will be strong under
compression and tension.
 Reinforced concrete block

• What part is the matrix and what part

is the reinforce?
 Reinforced concrete
• The steel cable is stretched, then
the concrete is poured over it.

• When the concrete dries, it holds

the steel cable in its stretched
position.

• The stretched cable is stronger

under tension.
• Wood and leather are two
examples of natural
composite materials that have
been used for a long time.

• Fibreglass is an example of an
artificial composite.
 Fibreglass

• The matrix is plastic.

• The reinforce is fine threads

(or fibres) of glass.

• Fibreglass is very light but

strong.
 Fibreglass

• The glass threads have a high

tensile strength but are brittle
if bent.

• The plastic matrix absorbs

forces that would bend the
fibres.
• By carefully choosing the
reinforce, the matrix, and the
manufacturing process that
brings them together,
engineers can control the
properties of a composite to
meet specific requirements.
• They can (for example) make
the composite very strong in
one direction by aligning the
fibres that way, but weaker in
another direction where
strength is not so important.
• For the matrix, many modern
composites use thermoplastics or
thermosets.

• Ceramics are used for matrix when

the material is going to be exposed
to high temperatures.

• Carbon is used for products that are

exposed to friction forces.
• Some polymers (Kevlar for
example) are strong enough to
be used for the reinforce
instead of for the matrix.

• Reinforce is usually metal or

ceramic though.
• Laminates are a composite made
by compressing layers of different
materials onto each other.

• Each layer is strong in the

direction of the fibres (shown as
cylinders in the next slide) but
weak at right angles to the
direction of the fibres.
E a c h la y e r o f th e la m in a te is a lig n e d in d e p e n d e n tly
• Plywood is made of
alternating layers of wood.

• This makes plywood strong

but light.
Plywood
• Chipboard is made of small
flat rectangular wooden
sections (chips) that are
aligned randomly to give equal
strength in all directions.

• The chips are held together by

a resin.
Chipboard
 EXERCISE
• Read pages 84 to 86 of
Electricity & thermal physics

• Answer assessment question

B5