- Email: [email protected]
Processing, structure and properties of block copolymers
Book reviews
79
resins and photoinitiators; equipment and its advancements; formulating technology; electronics and magnetic tapes; quality control; properties; building materials; regulations and safety; and metallisation processes. The quality of the papers is good and in my view a must for industrialists and academics involved in radiation curing technology who missed out on this splendid event.
Norman S. Allen
Processing, Structure and Properties o| Block Copolymers. Edited by M. J. Folkes. Elsevier Applied Science Publishers, London, 1985. 212 pp. ISBN 0-85334-323-3. Price: £30-00. The appearance of a book on block copolymers is welcome but the restricted scope of this volume would more readily entitle it to become the first volume of a new 'Developments' series. A series of five chapters totalling some 210 pages, and about four hundred references (of which a very minor proportion date after 1981) cannot really do justice to this important area and should more correctly be entitled 'Some aspects of block copolymer processing, structure and properties'. In Chapter 1, S. L. Aggarwal (General Tire & Rubber, Akron, USA) gives a short introduction and overview intended 'to provide a broad perspective of the chemistry and technology of block copolymers and their characteristic properties'. The text is somewhat overliberally illustrated with photographs (21 in 20 pages), but is readable and examples mainly restricted to styrene-butadiene systems. A useful table of non-SBS systems is included but since several important classes are scarcely mentioned in the rest of the book, references to trade names of commercially important materials would have been very welcome. Chapter 2, from Professor Keller's group at Bristol University summarises the investigations done into microstructure/property interrelations in the period 1971-1977; the authors are sensitive to their self-imposed limitation and spend half a page justifying it! After discussion of the identification/verification of SBS 'single crystals' and a short section on optical properties, most of the chapter is concerned
80
Book reviews
with mechanical properties, although swelling behaviour, domain packing systems, and the microphase interface are also discussed, but with relatively few references being provided. A contribution from J. Lyngaae-Jorgensen, Lyngby Technical University, Denmark, deals with melt flow properties; emphasis is placed 'on the description/evaluation of flow units, flow mechanisms and rheological properties during flow', with the behaviour of undiluted block copolymers being given priority. However, the highly mathematical bias could be somewhat confusing to the general reader who will tend to rely upon the recommendations of the commercial supplier. The application of composite theory to block copolymers and blends is covered in Chapter 4 (R. G. C. Arridge and M. J. Folkes from Bristol and Brunel Universities, respectively). Some theoretical ideas of composite mechanisms are applied to the mechanical properties of a block copolymer and its blend with polystyrene. The reviewer feels that this chapter will be of more use to the theoretician than the technologist although useful sections on injection moulding and extrusion are included. The final chapter, by S. Abouzahr and G. L. Wilks, respectively of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Blacksbury State University, USA, deals with segmented polyurethanes. It provides a general overview of structure/property behaviour of segmented copolymers with the principal emphasis being on segmented elastomers, but data on polyether/polyesters and urethane-ureas is included. The chemistry of 'soft' and 'hard' segments is discussed in some detail and a caveat expressed in applying results to different systems. Taken as a whole the book is in the 'useful reference library' class rather than essential personal reading; its price of £30 is reasonable by current day standards. T. J. Henman
79
resins and photoinitiators; equipment and its advancements; formulating technology; electronics and magnetic tapes; quality control; properties; building materials; regulations and safety; and metallisation processes. The quality of the papers is good and in my view a must for industrialists and academics involved in radiation curing technology who missed out on this splendid event.
Norman S. Allen
Processing, Structure and Properties o| Block Copolymers. Edited by M. J. Folkes. Elsevier Applied Science Publishers, London, 1985. 212 pp. ISBN 0-85334-323-3. Price: £30-00. The appearance of a book on block copolymers is welcome but the restricted scope of this volume would more readily entitle it to become the first volume of a new 'Developments' series. A series of five chapters totalling some 210 pages, and about four hundred references (of which a very minor proportion date after 1981) cannot really do justice to this important area and should more correctly be entitled 'Some aspects of block copolymer processing, structure and properties'. In Chapter 1, S. L. Aggarwal (General Tire & Rubber, Akron, USA) gives a short introduction and overview intended 'to provide a broad perspective of the chemistry and technology of block copolymers and their characteristic properties'. The text is somewhat overliberally illustrated with photographs (21 in 20 pages), but is readable and examples mainly restricted to styrene-butadiene systems. A useful table of non-SBS systems is included but since several important classes are scarcely mentioned in the rest of the book, references to trade names of commercially important materials would have been very welcome. Chapter 2, from Professor Keller's group at Bristol University summarises the investigations done into microstructure/property interrelations in the period 1971-1977; the authors are sensitive to their self-imposed limitation and spend half a page justifying it! After discussion of the identification/verification of SBS 'single crystals' and a short section on optical properties, most of the chapter is concerned
80
Book reviews
with mechanical properties, although swelling behaviour, domain packing systems, and the microphase interface are also discussed, but with relatively few references being provided. A contribution from J. Lyngaae-Jorgensen, Lyngby Technical University, Denmark, deals with melt flow properties; emphasis is placed 'on the description/evaluation of flow units, flow mechanisms and rheological properties during flow', with the behaviour of undiluted block copolymers being given priority. However, the highly mathematical bias could be somewhat confusing to the general reader who will tend to rely upon the recommendations of the commercial supplier. The application of composite theory to block copolymers and blends is covered in Chapter 4 (R. G. C. Arridge and M. J. Folkes from Bristol and Brunel Universities, respectively). Some theoretical ideas of composite mechanisms are applied to the mechanical properties of a block copolymer and its blend with polystyrene. The reviewer feels that this chapter will be of more use to the theoretician than the technologist although useful sections on injection moulding and extrusion are included. The final chapter, by S. Abouzahr and G. L. Wilks, respectively of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Blacksbury State University, USA, deals with segmented polyurethanes. It provides a general overview of structure/property behaviour of segmented copolymers with the principal emphasis being on segmented elastomers, but data on polyether/polyesters and urethane-ureas is included. The chemistry of 'soft' and 'hard' segments is discussed in some detail and a caveat expressed in applying results to different systems. Taken as a whole the book is in the 'useful reference library' class rather than essential personal reading; its price of £30 is reasonable by current day standards. T. J. Henman