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Economics of polymer blends
Author(s) -
Utracki L. A.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
polymer engineering and science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.503
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1548-2634
pISSN - 0032-3888
DOI - 10.1002/pen.760221717
Subject(s) - polypropylene , materials science , polyethylene , polystyrene , polymer , scrap , vinyl chloride , polymer science , work (physics) , composite material , process engineering , mechanical engineering , engineering , copolymer , metallurgy
Economic, technological, and regulatory pressures gradually narrow the chemical variety of polymers: in 1975, the market share of polyethylene was 40 percent, poly(vinyl chloride), 23 percent, polystyrene, 12 percent, and polypropylene, 11 percent, adding up to 86 percent of all thermoplastics (1‐3). The same pressures compel the plastics processor to diversify formulations and production methods. He must resort to new materials (e.g., polymer blends, polymer alloys, and composites) and new methods of manufacture. In this work, the economics of blending will be discussed. There are five reasons to employ polymer blends: higher performance at a reasonable price, modification of performance as a market develops, extending the performance of expensive resins, re‐use of plastics scrap, generation of a unique material as far as its processabilitv and/or performance are concerned.In Canada, the cost of blending varies from 8 to about 20 ¢/lb, depending primarily on the volume and the kind of material. The cost effectiveness depends on the total technical and economic environment in which the manufacturer operates; it has to be computed for each case separately. In the text, guidelines and examples are provided.