Performance of Plastics is devoted to the subject of service performance of polymers and composites.

The book introduces the reader to the basic properties of polymers and their behavior. It continues with the description of the various testing procedures and the information they convey, before it provides the reader with the latest on performance of polymers in service and its prediction. The last part of the book is dedicated to special polymer-based materials and their applications in important industries such as automotive, aircraft, aerospace, and electronic.

Contents

• Polymer Structures and Morphology
• Fracture, Impact and Toughness
• Ductile Polymers
• Computer Simulations of Mechanical Behavior
• The Chain Relaxation Capability (CRC)
• Quasi-Static Tests: Tension, Compression, Bending, and Shear Viscoelasticity, Creep, and Stress Relaxation
• Thermal Transitions and Their Measurement
• Acoustic Behavior
• Dielectric Relaxation in Polymers
• Effects of Processing on Mechanical Behavior of Thermoplastics
• Nucleation in Semicrystalline Polymers: Effects on Mechanical Behavior Crazing
• Physical Aging: Effects on Physical and Mechanical Performance
• Interfaces and Adhesion
• Surfaces and Their Modification
• Elastomers
• Textile Structural Composites
• Fiber-Reinforced Heterogeneous Composites (HCs): Bond Strength
• Toughened Thermoplastics and Thermosets
• High Performance Polymers
• Smart Composites with Field-Responsive Rheology
• Polymers as Biomaterials
• Polyelectrolyte-Based Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Materials
• Polymers for Electronic and Photonic Applications
• Polymers in Automobiles
• Reliability and Durability of Aircraft Structures Made of Fiber-Reinforced HCs