In today’s article, we will be discussing an important part of materials development and proper materials selection, i.e., testing and standardization of polymers with the Polymer Testing Equipment. The latter part of this article is therefore devoted to this aspect. It presents schematically (in simplified form) a number of standard test methods for plastics, highlighting the principles of the tests and the properties measured by them.
There are two stages in the process of becoming familiar with plastics. The first is rather general and involves an introduction to the unique molecular structures of polymers, their physical states, and transitions which have marked influence on their behavior. These have been dealt with in article “What is a Polymer”. The second stage, which will be treated in this article, is more specific in that it involves a study of the specific properties of plastics which dictate their applications.
