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Polymers as materials for packaging
Polymer Degradation and Stability 35 (1992) 95-96
Book reviews
This book can be recommended as introductory reading for anyone looking for a general overview of plastics packaging technology and willing to accept that the leading edge of that technology has moved on quite a long way since it was produced.
Polymers as Materials for Packaging. By J. Stepek, V. Duchacek, D. Curda, J. Horacek & M. Sipek. Ellis Horwood, Chichester, 1987. ISBN 0-85312-677-1. 489 pp. Price: £74.15. Packaging and containers in both short- and long-life forms are the largest single market for thermoplastic materials and one which attracts a good deal of public discussion, much of it ill-informed. Plastics compete in the market place with a wide variety of other materials, such a paper, metals, glass and ceramics, and the complexity of many plastics can mean that their virtues are less well understood. This book is an attempt to review the applications of plastic materials in packaging, setting them against other materials. It is a translation from a Czech original. The book is useful as a general review of packaging technology for polymer scientists. It provides a concise description of the functions required of a package and the ways in which polymers can be used, alone or in combination with other materials, to achieve the performance needed. The discussions of barrier properties and of the use of additives to stabilise packaging against degradation are valuable. The book can equally be seen as a review of polymer science aimed at packaging technologists and seems successful from that viewpoint too. Most of the major classes of plastics and thermosets are well reviewed with the basic terminology well defined. The book is produced from camera-ready typescript, but the delays in translation and production inevitably give it a 'dated' feel. The literature coverage is mainly of the 1970s, with a few references into the 1980s. The result is that some obvious topics are not considered. For example, there is no discussion of the very important ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymers as barrier materials, polyethyleneterephthalate bottles are not discussed, and there is very little discussion of metallized films. There is also no discussion of the environmental impact of plastics packaging nor of methods for accelerating degradation, so that, for example, starch-filled polymers and photodegradation promoters are not mentioned.
Mechanisms of Polymer Degradation and Stabilisation. Edited by G. Scott. Elsevier Science Publishers, London, 1990. ISBN 1-85166-505-6. x + 329 pp. Price: £66.00. For a long time a main source of up-to-date review articles on degradation and stabilisation of polymers has been the series Developments in Polymer Stabilisation, edited by Professor Scott. Although that series is no longer being published, the present volume follows much the same format in being an edited collection of reviews of topics of current interest. The volume has seven chapters. The first, by Denisov, is a review of the kinetics of inhibited oxidation of hydrocarbons, which attempts to create a general framework for understanding inhibition kinetics. General stabilisation is discussed in two chapters, on phosphite and phosphonite esters (Schwetlick) and on dithiophosphoric acid derivatives (AI-Malaika). Both present very detailed reviews of antioxidant mechanisms. .More specific problems are addressed by Carlsson and Chmela, who give an elegant review of mechanisms of oxidation of polymers by high-energy radiation and the strategies for stabilisation. Highperformance polymers are treated by Pickett, who discusses photodegradation and stabilisation of poly(phenylene ether)s. A very detailed account of the photodegradation chemistry of stabilised polyethylene is given by Gugumus. Some of the mechanisms proposed in this review are controversial, but it is good to have a collected summary of the evidence for them. The last, and longest, chapter is a discussion by Munteanu of the use of high-performance liquid chromatography for analysis of additives, which gives an extensive review of analytical methods for a wide range of stabilisers. The authors represented in this volume are all
Polymer Degradation and Stability (35) (1992) (~) 1992 Elsevier Science Publishers Ltd. 95
Book reviews
This book can be recommended as introductory reading for anyone looking for a general overview of plastics packaging technology and willing to accept that the leading edge of that technology has moved on quite a long way since it was produced.
Polymers as Materials for Packaging. By J. Stepek, V. Duchacek, D. Curda, J. Horacek & M. Sipek. Ellis Horwood, Chichester, 1987. ISBN 0-85312-677-1. 489 pp. Price: £74.15. Packaging and containers in both short- and long-life forms are the largest single market for thermoplastic materials and one which attracts a good deal of public discussion, much of it ill-informed. Plastics compete in the market place with a wide variety of other materials, such a paper, metals, glass and ceramics, and the complexity of many plastics can mean that their virtues are less well understood. This book is an attempt to review the applications of plastic materials in packaging, setting them against other materials. It is a translation from a Czech original. The book is useful as a general review of packaging technology for polymer scientists. It provides a concise description of the functions required of a package and the ways in which polymers can be used, alone or in combination with other materials, to achieve the performance needed. The discussions of barrier properties and of the use of additives to stabilise packaging against degradation are valuable. The book can equally be seen as a review of polymer science aimed at packaging technologists and seems successful from that viewpoint too. Most of the major classes of plastics and thermosets are well reviewed with the basic terminology well defined. The book is produced from camera-ready typescript, but the delays in translation and production inevitably give it a 'dated' feel. The literature coverage is mainly of the 1970s, with a few references into the 1980s. The result is that some obvious topics are not considered. For example, there is no discussion of the very important ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymers as barrier materials, polyethyleneterephthalate bottles are not discussed, and there is very little discussion of metallized films. There is also no discussion of the environmental impact of plastics packaging nor of methods for accelerating degradation, so that, for example, starch-filled polymers and photodegradation promoters are not mentioned.
Mechanisms of Polymer Degradation and Stabilisation. Edited by G. Scott. Elsevier Science Publishers, London, 1990. ISBN 1-85166-505-6. x + 329 pp. Price: £66.00. For a long time a main source of up-to-date review articles on degradation and stabilisation of polymers has been the series Developments in Polymer Stabilisation, edited by Professor Scott. Although that series is no longer being published, the present volume follows much the same format in being an edited collection of reviews of topics of current interest. The volume has seven chapters. The first, by Denisov, is a review of the kinetics of inhibited oxidation of hydrocarbons, which attempts to create a general framework for understanding inhibition kinetics. General stabilisation is discussed in two chapters, on phosphite and phosphonite esters (Schwetlick) and on dithiophosphoric acid derivatives (AI-Malaika). Both present very detailed reviews of antioxidant mechanisms. .More specific problems are addressed by Carlsson and Chmela, who give an elegant review of mechanisms of oxidation of polymers by high-energy radiation and the strategies for stabilisation. Highperformance polymers are treated by Pickett, who discusses photodegradation and stabilisation of poly(phenylene ether)s. A very detailed account of the photodegradation chemistry of stabilised polyethylene is given by Gugumus. Some of the mechanisms proposed in this review are controversial, but it is good to have a collected summary of the evidence for them. The last, and longest, chapter is a discussion by Munteanu of the use of high-performance liquid chromatography for analysis of additives, which gives an extensive review of analytical methods for a wide range of stabilisers. The authors represented in this volume are all
Polymer Degradation and Stability (35) (1992) (~) 1992 Elsevier Science Publishers Ltd. 95