Colloids and Surfaces, 27 (1987) 267-266
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Elsevier Science PublishersB.V., Amsterdam- Printed in The Netherlands
Book Review Polymers for Fibers and Elastomers, ACS Symposium Series, Vol. 260, edited by Jett C. Arthur, Jr, American Chemical Society, Washington, DC 20036, 1984,433 pp. Price: US$69.95. Polymers for Fibers and Elastomers comprises 26 papers from a symposium sponsored by the Macromolecular Secretariate of ACS at the 186th Meeting in Washington, DC, fall 1983. These are divided into six sections: characterization of fibers by instrumental methods, high performance polymers, elastomers and processability, carbon fibers in polymers, formation and modification of fibers, and state of the art in fiber technology. The first five chapters present applications of various spectroscopic techniques for analyzing fiber materials: IR, NMR, ESCA, EPR, EDXA, etc. These include techniques for both surface and bulk analysis and are used to identify, e.g., active species of chemically modified cottons (Benerito et al. ) , chain conformations of crystalline and noncrystalline components of celluloses (Horii et. al. ) , blend composition and finish add-ons (Morris and Berni), and the effect of irradition on polypropylene (Chipara et al.). A model has been developed to examine conformational aspects of polyglucosides by mapping an n-h plot in which the shape of a local region of polymeric material is described in terms of the number, n, of monomer units per helix pitch, p, and the rise per monomer unit, along the helix axis, h (French). The two papers on high performance polymers comprise (i) discussion of development of a partial phase diagram for one of the aromatic polyamides which complexes with its solvent, viz. poly (p-phenyleneterephthalamide ) -sulfuric acid (Gardner et al. ) and (ii ) synthesis and characterization of a series of aromatic azomethine polymers and fibers ( Morgan et al. ) . Four papers present various elastomers: Polmanteer and Falender on the structure and properties of silicone and fluorosilicone elastomers; Singler et. al. on the synthesis, properties and applications of phosphazene elastomers; Schmiegel and Logothetis on vinylidene fluoroelastomers; and, Leblanc on rubber processing through rheology. Carbon fibers are discussed in five papers which are concerned with mesophase formation in polynuclear aromatic compounds (Diefendorf) , pitchsolvent interactions and their effects on mesophase formation (Venner and Diefendorf) , molecular weight determination (Chen et al. ) , solvent-extracted pitch precursors ( Riggs) and the effects of sulfur and metals on mesophase formation ( Gu et al. ) . Various papers on the formation and modification of fibers discuss the reaction of formaldehyde vapor with water-wetted wool ( Al-Khayatt et, al.), surface cavitation in polyethylene terephthalate (Durning et al. ) , fluorenone
polymers and fibers (Usmani) , polyester processability in texturing (Southern et al.) and the effects of annealing below Tg on the properties of PVC. A fascinating application is discussed by Ang and co-workers in which radiation induced grafting of monomers to cellulose is used in art preservation, e.g. restoration of artefacts from Henry VIII’s sunken warship, The Mary Rose. In the final section four papers present aspects of fiber technology. George discusses a model for the melt spinning process, Prevorsek et al. describe optimization of viscoelastic properties pertaining to tire cords, Kanamoto and co-workers discuss deformation profiles of high density polyethylene and finally Helminiak and Evers discuss examples of rigid-rod aromatic-heterocyclic polymers which form liquid crystalline solutions with a view to developing structural materials. This volume is an excellent compilation of certain topics having to do with polymers for fibers and elastomers, ranging from the processing and characterization to applications of natural and synthetic polymers. The book is highly organized, includes references at the end of each paper, and has an author and very thorough, useful subject index. It is a worthy addition to any polymer scientist’s library. Dr L.J. MORGAN Columbia University New York, NY