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Reclaiming rubber and other polymers
Book Reviews
Advances in polymer science and engineering Edited by K. D. Pae, D. R. Morrow and Yu Chen Plenum Press, New York, 1973, 350 pp. $19.50 This book is a compendium of eighteen papers presented to a Symposium held at Rutgers University on 26 and 27 October 1972, in honour of Professor J. A. Sauer's sixtieth birthday. As would be expected, the papers cover a wide range of topics on the structure and mechanical behaviour of polymers, reflecting Professor Sauer's own broad interests. The papers on structure include a n excellent summary by Peterlin of the morphological changes occurring during the drawing of crystalline polymers and a very substantial article on the interpretation of small angle X-ray diffraction from crystalline polymers by Burmester and Geil. There are three papers concerned with single crystals, including one by Professor Saner and his coworkers on surface morphology and deformation of polypropylene single crystals. The papers on mechanical properties cover an even wider range. Experimental studies of linear polyethylene, ABA type block copolymers, polycarbonate, wood and poly(ethylene terephthalate) concentrate primarily on low strain dynamic mechanical behaviour, usually in conjunction with other techniques such as dielectric relaxation or sorption characteristics. There are also papers on higher strain behaviour, including a n interesting study of the influence of pressure on polychlorotrifluoroethylene, a theoretical development in non-linear viscoelasticity, and discussion of the structure of tie molecules. A final group of papers on melt rheology, includes consideration of structural factors which influence the flow behaviour of low density polyethylene and ethylene-acrylic acid copolymers, and a theoretical treatment of die swell by Yu Chen. These papers are of a uniformly high standard, and present a wide range of material, most of which is of very recent origin. The book can therefore be recommended as providing a reliable account of the present state of the art in this area of research.
L M. Ward
Reclaiming rubber and other polymers J. A. Szilard Noyes Data Corporation, Park Ridge, New Jersey, 1973, 310 pp. $36.00 This book contains a detailed summary of some 125 US patent specifications published between 1955 and 1972. Its major purpose is to describe the number of technical possibilities available which may open up profitable areas for research and development in the reclaiming of rubber and other polymers. Although in the foreword it is stated that many of the patents are being used commercially, there is, not unexpectedly, no indication of which these are. This book does not, therefore, meet a requirement for one to which reference may be made for information on industrially important polymer reclaiming processes. Almost since the beginning of the industry, with the discovery of vulcanization about 135 years ago, scrap rubber has been re-used as a compounding ingredient with new rubber, either as a finely ground dust or as a chemically and/or thermally devulcanized or depolymerized plastic material. The reviewer prefers to confine the terms 'reclaim' and 'reclaimed rubber' to the latter as, indeed, such authorities as J. M. Ball have done in their publications. It is to be regretted that the preparation and uses of ground scrap vulcanized rubber and reclaimed rubber are not separately assembled in the three long chapters, which constitute considerably more than half the text, on the technology, the additives and the uses of reclaimed rubber. The range of processes described is wide, covering such matters as the elimination of fibres from unvulcanized rubber scrap, the
pelletizing of reclaimed rubber and oxidative distillation. The 'additives' chapter reports on chemicals to aid the degradation and plasticization of the product, and on the use of other polymers to bind ground scrap. The term 'uses' of reclaimed rubber has similarly been widely interpreted to the extent that description of a barrier to prevent the staining of the white sidewall of a tyre by a carcass compound containing reclaimed rubber is included. The remaining nine chapters deal with polyesters, polyurethanes, polystyrenes, polyamides, polysiloxanes, polyolefins, fluorocarbons, polyvinyls and miscellaneous polymers; five of them cover less than five patents. The objective in the majority of these patents, concerned with plastics polymers, is to recover the polymer, prepolymer or monomer from association with filler and pigment, from fibres, metal or a second polymer in waste material or scrap components. Reclaiming is again interpreted very broadly and processes based on chemical and physical methods are included. Elastomers based on silicones, fluorocarbon and nitroso polymers, which one might expect to find in the first three chapters covering rubbers, are included in the respective chapters alongside plastics. The author is to be congratulated on producing interesting and readable accounts from the legally phrased patent specifications and the book is certainly an idea-promoting publication. Adequate, informative and clear line drawings of equipment and processes and tables of recipes and properties add much to the value of the book. The only indexes are to inventors, companies and patent numbers; a subject index, or subtitling in the contents list, would have made the book easier to use for reference.
C. M. Blow
Condensation monomers Edited by J. K. Stille and T. W. Campbell Wiley-lnterscience, New York, 1973, 745 pp. £18.50 The compilation of this multi-author work, which forms Vol 27 of the Wiley-Interscience High Polymers series, was begun in 1967 initially under the editorship of the late T. W. Campbell (to whom it is dedicated) and subsequently of J. K. Stille, another noted American worker in synthetic polymer chemistry. The book describes the synthesis, utility and general properties of intermediates useful for the preparation of linear condensation polymers. Questions of semantics arise at the outset since these intermediates, in general, are strictly not 'monomers' but coreactants; furthermore, the term 'condensation polymers' extends by common usage to important groups of substances, e.g. polyurethanes and certain nylons, which are not made in practice, by polycondensation methods. The editors have therefore wisely, if unsystematically, extended the scope of their book to include diisocyanates and some other non-condensant precursors of polar and/or crystalline polymers. Attention is drawn to another recently published book, Frisch's 'Cyclic Monomers' (Vol 26 of the High Polymers series), which has been planned in parallel with the present work and includes further classes of starting materials for 'condensation' polymers. The larger part of the Stille--Campbell book is devoted to the principal aliphatic 'monomers' (diearboxylic acids, hydroxy acids, diamines, diols and bischloroformates); aromatic 'monomers' (dicarboxylic acids and their derivatives, diamines, bisphenols and their chloroformates); and diisocyantes. Accounts are also given of carbonyl and thiocarbonyl monomers, and of the tetrafunctional precursors of the newer polyheterocyclic materials. For each series the main emphasis is placed on surveying and describing methods of synthesis, especially on the laboratory scale and often with full experimental detail, followed by summary accounts of physical properties, analytical procedures, relevant storage and toxicological data, and concise discussions of the use of the materials in polymerization. More than 3500 literature references are included.
POLYMER, 1974, Vol 15, March
191
Advances in polymer science and engineering Edited by K. D. Pae, D. R. Morrow and Yu Chen Plenum Press, New York, 1973, 350 pp. $19.50 This book is a compendium of eighteen papers presented to a Symposium held at Rutgers University on 26 and 27 October 1972, in honour of Professor J. A. Sauer's sixtieth birthday. As would be expected, the papers cover a wide range of topics on the structure and mechanical behaviour of polymers, reflecting Professor Sauer's own broad interests. The papers on structure include a n excellent summary by Peterlin of the morphological changes occurring during the drawing of crystalline polymers and a very substantial article on the interpretation of small angle X-ray diffraction from crystalline polymers by Burmester and Geil. There are three papers concerned with single crystals, including one by Professor Saner and his coworkers on surface morphology and deformation of polypropylene single crystals. The papers on mechanical properties cover an even wider range. Experimental studies of linear polyethylene, ABA type block copolymers, polycarbonate, wood and poly(ethylene terephthalate) concentrate primarily on low strain dynamic mechanical behaviour, usually in conjunction with other techniques such as dielectric relaxation or sorption characteristics. There are also papers on higher strain behaviour, including a n interesting study of the influence of pressure on polychlorotrifluoroethylene, a theoretical development in non-linear viscoelasticity, and discussion of the structure of tie molecules. A final group of papers on melt rheology, includes consideration of structural factors which influence the flow behaviour of low density polyethylene and ethylene-acrylic acid copolymers, and a theoretical treatment of die swell by Yu Chen. These papers are of a uniformly high standard, and present a wide range of material, most of which is of very recent origin. The book can therefore be recommended as providing a reliable account of the present state of the art in this area of research.
L M. Ward
Reclaiming rubber and other polymers J. A. Szilard Noyes Data Corporation, Park Ridge, New Jersey, 1973, 310 pp. $36.00 This book contains a detailed summary of some 125 US patent specifications published between 1955 and 1972. Its major purpose is to describe the number of technical possibilities available which may open up profitable areas for research and development in the reclaiming of rubber and other polymers. Although in the foreword it is stated that many of the patents are being used commercially, there is, not unexpectedly, no indication of which these are. This book does not, therefore, meet a requirement for one to which reference may be made for information on industrially important polymer reclaiming processes. Almost since the beginning of the industry, with the discovery of vulcanization about 135 years ago, scrap rubber has been re-used as a compounding ingredient with new rubber, either as a finely ground dust or as a chemically and/or thermally devulcanized or depolymerized plastic material. The reviewer prefers to confine the terms 'reclaim' and 'reclaimed rubber' to the latter as, indeed, such authorities as J. M. Ball have done in their publications. It is to be regretted that the preparation and uses of ground scrap vulcanized rubber and reclaimed rubber are not separately assembled in the three long chapters, which constitute considerably more than half the text, on the technology, the additives and the uses of reclaimed rubber. The range of processes described is wide, covering such matters as the elimination of fibres from unvulcanized rubber scrap, the
pelletizing of reclaimed rubber and oxidative distillation. The 'additives' chapter reports on chemicals to aid the degradation and plasticization of the product, and on the use of other polymers to bind ground scrap. The term 'uses' of reclaimed rubber has similarly been widely interpreted to the extent that description of a barrier to prevent the staining of the white sidewall of a tyre by a carcass compound containing reclaimed rubber is included. The remaining nine chapters deal with polyesters, polyurethanes, polystyrenes, polyamides, polysiloxanes, polyolefins, fluorocarbons, polyvinyls and miscellaneous polymers; five of them cover less than five patents. The objective in the majority of these patents, concerned with plastics polymers, is to recover the polymer, prepolymer or monomer from association with filler and pigment, from fibres, metal or a second polymer in waste material or scrap components. Reclaiming is again interpreted very broadly and processes based on chemical and physical methods are included. Elastomers based on silicones, fluorocarbon and nitroso polymers, which one might expect to find in the first three chapters covering rubbers, are included in the respective chapters alongside plastics. The author is to be congratulated on producing interesting and readable accounts from the legally phrased patent specifications and the book is certainly an idea-promoting publication. Adequate, informative and clear line drawings of equipment and processes and tables of recipes and properties add much to the value of the book. The only indexes are to inventors, companies and patent numbers; a subject index, or subtitling in the contents list, would have made the book easier to use for reference.
C. M. Blow
Condensation monomers Edited by J. K. Stille and T. W. Campbell Wiley-lnterscience, New York, 1973, 745 pp. £18.50 The compilation of this multi-author work, which forms Vol 27 of the Wiley-Interscience High Polymers series, was begun in 1967 initially under the editorship of the late T. W. Campbell (to whom it is dedicated) and subsequently of J. K. Stille, another noted American worker in synthetic polymer chemistry. The book describes the synthesis, utility and general properties of intermediates useful for the preparation of linear condensation polymers. Questions of semantics arise at the outset since these intermediates, in general, are strictly not 'monomers' but coreactants; furthermore, the term 'condensation polymers' extends by common usage to important groups of substances, e.g. polyurethanes and certain nylons, which are not made in practice, by polycondensation methods. The editors have therefore wisely, if unsystematically, extended the scope of their book to include diisocyanates and some other non-condensant precursors of polar and/or crystalline polymers. Attention is drawn to another recently published book, Frisch's 'Cyclic Monomers' (Vol 26 of the High Polymers series), which has been planned in parallel with the present work and includes further classes of starting materials for 'condensation' polymers. The larger part of the Stille--Campbell book is devoted to the principal aliphatic 'monomers' (diearboxylic acids, hydroxy acids, diamines, diols and bischloroformates); aromatic 'monomers' (dicarboxylic acids and their derivatives, diamines, bisphenols and their chloroformates); and diisocyantes. Accounts are also given of carbonyl and thiocarbonyl monomers, and of the tetrafunctional precursors of the newer polyheterocyclic materials. For each series the main emphasis is placed on surveying and describing methods of synthesis, especially on the laboratory scale and often with full experimental detail, followed by summary accounts of physical properties, analytical procedures, relevant storage and toxicological data, and concise discussions of the use of the materials in polymerization. More than 3500 literature references are included.
POLYMER, 1974, Vol 15, March
191