Practical Guide to High Performance Engineering Plastics

Book excerpt: High performance engineering plastics are used in a vast range of applications and environments. They are becoming increasingly important because of trends towards more reliable and higher performance machines and devices. This book gives readers a working knowledge and understanding of high performance engineering plastics. It starts with a simple, practical overview of key properties and principles. In each of the chapters there are sections on production chemistry, product forms, properties, processing and applications. There is a strong bias towards materials and concepts which are used in practice. The materials covered include high performance Polyethersulfones, Polyetherimides, Polyphthalamides, Polyphenylene Sulfide, Polyaryletherketones, Polyamideimides, Polyimides, Polybenzimidazole, Liquid Crystalline Polyesters and Perfluoropolymers. The reader will develop the ability to understand why materials are chosen for certain applications, why those materials have particular properties and how those properties can be modified. This will facilitate conversations with both materials suppliers and end users. It will help to identify the best and most cost effective solutions.