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Reviews in polymer technology, vol I
Book Reviews Carbon fibres in composites R. M. Gill Ilifle Books, London, 1972, 207 pp. £5.00 It is six years since the newly hatched carbon fibre industry was revealed to public view accompanied by widespread acclaim and an excess of superlatives. Unfortunately the fledgling has since failed to reproduce in flight the confident performance predicted at the time, and its major attempt to leave the nest appeared to fall short of the target. There are signs, however, that growth towards maturity is now inexorably underway and this is therefore a propitious time for the publication of D r Gill's monograph. This book is not aimed at a specific group of people; it could be read with advantage by all who have interests in the materials field and can see that carbon fibre composites may interact with their work or businesses. Drawing on his experience with Morganite Modmor Ltd, the author has produced a comprehensive guide to present production techniques and the chemistry of the conversion processes for the major rayon-based and PAN-based fibres. Valuable data on fibre and composite properties and testing techniques have been compiled, together with information o n a variety of matrix materials and hints for composite test-piece manufacture. These chapters form the core of the book and are authoritatively written with references to the principal papers and international patent literature. It has clearly been D r Gill's intention to create in the reader the feeling that he has sufficient background information to evaluate these materials for himself. For this reason the fact that the description of composite and prepreg manufacturing methods does not represent the best present industrial practice is understandable. Simple methods are more likely to be successful with small quantities of fibre than complex techniques which may lead to punitive scrap costs in the event of an error. The author has also surveyed present carbon fibre reinforced plastics applications and future potential, acknowledging that these aspects are likely to change rapidly and be contentious in character. It will be interesting to evaluate actual performance in a few years time against these tentative predictions. There are some incongruities in the book. For example, the chemical complexities of the pyrolysis process render the simple definitions of terminology, which appear a few pages before, insignificant by comparison. Imperial units are used throughout when the universal movement is towards metrication. In the useful chapter on resin matrix materials some of the proportions of constituents seem unfortunately to have been omitted. These and a few other small objections do not detract from D r Gill's main achievement which has been to produce an excellent primer on carbon fibre technology at a critical time in the growth of the field. The book is generally easy to read, clearly laid out and very nicely produced but at £5 for 200 pages seems slightly on the expensive side.
J. IV. Johnson
Plasticisers, stabilisers and fillers Edited by P. D. Ritchie Iliffe Books, London, 1972, 333 pp. £8.00 It is unfortunate that the title of this book tends to be a misleading one, in that fourteen of its twenty chapters nominally deal with plasticizers, with three of the remainder on stabilizers and three on fillers. As mentioned in the preface this rather unbalanced treatment has been partially remedied by a separate monograph, 'Fillers for Plastics', edited by W. C. Wake. Another feature which is not indicated by the title is the considerable emphasis on additives for poly(vinyl chloride). Although this is justified, in the case of plasticizers for example, by the very much larger consumption of plasticizers for PVC, further information concerning other polymers would have been useful, particularly in the case of stabilizers and fillers. Two short introductory chapters are followed by a chapter in which polymer types and additives are discussed. Useful information concerning requirements of additives, and types of additives used for different polymers are included in this chapter. The next
126 POLYMER, 1973, Vol 14, March
two chapters review the literature on theories of plasticizer action and compatibility, efficiency and permanence of plasticizers, but in the former case no work published later than 1961 is cited. Chapters on viscoelastic, mechanical, and electrical properties of polymers and polymer processing include much material which is available from other sources. In addition the large number of contributors has led to a certain amount of repetition, so that electrical properties, for example, are defined in two separate chapters. Much more relevant material is that on the manufacture, properties and analysis of plasticizers, while a chapter on formulation for specific applications is a useful one for reference purposes. Useful chapters on stabilizers and additives for particular applications are also included in the last two sections of the monograph. Much information on the effect of different types of filler on properties is quoted. Thus although parts of this monograph contain valuable reference material for the plastics technologist, other information presented is less relevant for a publication of this type, and the price of £8.00 is high for the amount of new material presented.
M. Gilbert
Reviews in polymer technology, Vol I Edited by Irving Skeist Marcel Dekker, New York, 1972, 252 pp. $19.50 This book is intended as the first volume of a series which will deal with current technology in the polymer-based industries and the six reviews included are illustrative of the range expected. The style and nature of the contents varies considerably. Plastics and other polymers in building is a short marketing oriented article with statistical data for the use of polymers drawn from Germany and the U K as well as the USA. The technology is sparse. The longest and most technological is Fire retardance in polymeric materials. This is an extremely thorough review which seems to be written in three parts. It starts with theoretical matters, then follows a section on the use of additives with emphasis on glass fibre reinforced plastics, empirical test results and smoke development and it concludes by a return to some theory applied to actual data. This method of treatment involves some repetition even to the extent of Fig. 25 virtually repeating Fig. 4. There is also in this otherwise valuable article a failure to consider the level of knowledge to be expected of the reader. Many of the simple chemical equations are mere padding and Figs 9 and 10 occupying whole pages are too elementary. The mechanism discussion leans heavily on radical mechanisms to the exclusion of physical factors such as heat conductance, heats of combustion and vapour diffusion. The empirical and unsatisfactory state of fire retardance comes out clearly as the direct result of the complexity of the processes which occur. In fact one is surprised at the amount of order the authors have managed to impose. The first review concerns Coupling agents as adhesion promotors. This also is extremely thorough in that it concludes with 346 references adding for good measure a page of general bibliography. As this suggests, it accepts all and in doing so fails to give the reader fresh to the subject a critical picture. Amino-silanes are not suitable coupling agents to use with polyesters but one doubts the ascription of release properties to the treated glass surface. In general, coupling agents will lower the surface energy of a metal or even a glass substrate but in so doing they discourage the preferential adsorption of water which would otherwise occur. Where direct chemical reaction between coupling agent and resin occurs it is true that simple displacement of resin by water is not possible but it is untrue to state that the primary bond is not susceptible to hydrolysis for most of the coupling agents used can hydrolyse although there is little loss in this since the polyester will itself hydrolyse given sufficient exposure to water. Processing powdered polyethylene is a competent state-of-the-art review of this technology. To the present writer the most modern of these reviews is Recent advances in photo-crosslinkable polymers. This concerns the use of polymers in photo-resist systems used in a number of ways but principally in the manufacture of integrated circuits. The review considers new polymers and their synthesis including materials such as poly(vinyl cinnamate) and its derivatives, poly(vinyl-2-furyl-acrylate), aryl azido condensation polymers,
Book]Reviews styryl ketones, methoxy stilbenes and acetylenic polyethers. Data are given for a range of photosensitizers and the whole is most interesting. The last review, Organic colorants for polymers, classifies these materials and concludes with a list of colorant chemical types conveniently arranged within the primary colours. This should be valuable. The printing and book binding are of the usual USA high standard, though the writing of some of the authors is less than elegant. For some unaccountable reason the review copy was printed on two different coloured papers; pp 1-111 being white and pp 113-252 having a distinct and very noticeable green tinge. This ought not to occur.
W. C. Wake
Polymer science and materials Edited by A. V. Tobolsky and H. F. Mark Wiley, New York and London, 1972, 432 pp. £10.05 This book, which is the first of two volumes, is intended, in the words of the editors, 'for the beginning student of polymer science or engineering, whether undergraduate, graduate, or employed in the polymer industry', and it attempts 'to present the fundamental ideas of polymer science in as simple a manner as possible'. Furthermore, it is also stated that 'an attempt has been made to retain a certain uniformity in the mode of presentation'. It must regrettably be admitted that these stated objectives have been only partly accomplished. Not only is the level of difficulty among the various contributors widely different, but the order of the chapters does not appear to be based on any obvious logical principle. Some of the earlier chapters in particular are overladen with mathematical formulations before the fundamental qualitative concepts underlying these formulations have been sufficiently clearly explained. Thus in Chapter 3 (Conformations of polymer molecules) the reader is confronted with advanced chain statistics in which references are made to the 'random-walk necklace model', the 'wormlike chain model', the 'elastic dumbbell model', etc., with practically no preparation. In the treatment of rubber elasticity (Chapter 9) insufficient care is given to clarity of presentation. The Gaussian network formulae are given in a form which contains the volume, and although it is stated that the volume is essentially constant, this obscures the essential simplicity of the results. The force-length relation for a non-Gaussian chain is derived (p 197) without defining the angle 0. No graphs are included to illustrate either the Gaussian or the non-Gaussian force-extension relations. The beginner would have great difficulty in understanding the relation between the mean-
Reprinted Volumes of
POLYMER 1960-1969 (Vols 1-10) Missing
volume
of P O L Y M E R library ?
in your
The first 10 volumes of POLYMER, covering the years 1960 to 1969, have now been reprinted in separate volumes (one per year) and are available at £15.00 ($39.00) per volume. All orders should be sent direct to: Wm Dawson and Sons Ltd, Cannon House, Folkestone, Kent, UK
square length of network chains and that of free chains, or the significance of the 'affine deformation' assumption. He would probably decide that rubber elasticity was not for him. This is a great pity, for the subject is one in which engineers in particular can find much of interest. The chapters which are concerned more with actual properties are much clearer. Chapter 10 (Viscoelastic properties of polymers) could well have preceded Chapter 6 (Phase transitions and vitrification). The chapters on crystallinity, on strength and on diffusion are well done. Later chapters, rather curiously entitled Science of rubbers, Science of plastics, and Science of fibres, which in fact are more concerned with industrial and technological aspects, are also very readable. The final chapter (Equilibrium polymerization) appears to have been added as an afterthought. There is much in this book that will be read with interest by those who are already familiar with polymer science. It definitely is not suitable for a first reading in the subject.
L. R. G. Treloar
Glycoproteins Edited by A. Gottschalk Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1972, Parts A and B, 1378 pp. Dfl. 400 (approx. £50) Since the first edition of this work appeared in 1966, the interest in glycoproteins has escalated dramatically and their relevance to a widening circle of biological interests has become apparent. It is a notable example of a subject, which just a few years ago was a somewhat despised poor cousin, now proverbially become the rich uncle. It is timely, therefore, that an authoritative survey such as this should be brought up-to-date in line with current results and ideas. The book, which now is published in two volumes, Parts A and B, is partly successful in achieving this aim. It gives a broad coverage of the whole area being concerned principally on the one hand with general aspects of glycoproteins (analytical techniques, structural analysis, applications of enzymes for study of chemical constitution etc.) and on the other with detailed considerations of well-defined classes of glycoproteins or individual members of this category. The closing chapters deal with some aspects of biosynthesis and functions of glycoproteins. Most of the authors who contributed to the first edition, happily, reappear in the second. In some cases, it is evident that their contributions have been extensively rewritten so as to embody much new information, while other chapters are republished virtually unchanged in substance or views. In one chapter, for example, only eight references to works post- 1966 are quoted, while another section has only four references which post-date the first edition. The contribution on the physico-chemical methods for determination of purity, molecular size and shape is a lengthy but readable survey providing a useful introduction to the various commoner techniques available. Many readers will appreciate especially the succinct and informative review of gas-liquid chromatographic techniques pertinent to glycoproteins. Elsewhere, inclusion of a brief chapter effectively on glycosaminoglycans of connective tissue is of interest, if only for comparative purposes. In general, the chapters on individual glycoproteins are well-written and authors have made judicious selections of examples for discussion. The book is well printed, the figures are adequately presented in most cases but the binding scarcely does justice to the volumes as a whole. Though one does not minimize the importance nor usefulness of the subject, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that at $125 the work is substantially overpriced. Few individuals will feel able to invest at such a price and some doubt will exist, even in the minds of some librarians, whether the proportion of new information which this new edition contains makes it worth the outlay. It can only be described as regrettable that a single subject index (though commendably thorough) to both Parts appears only at the end of Part B. Even if Part A is available separately, its use is seriously diminished without Part B. There is no author index to either Part. Nevertheless, this work stands as an outstanding source volume which will be of great service to research workers in many fields, and will be undoubtedly an added stimulus to further investigations.
P. W. Kent
POLYMER, 1973, Vol 14, March
127
J. IV. Johnson
Plasticisers, stabilisers and fillers Edited by P. D. Ritchie Iliffe Books, London, 1972, 333 pp. £8.00 It is unfortunate that the title of this book tends to be a misleading one, in that fourteen of its twenty chapters nominally deal with plasticizers, with three of the remainder on stabilizers and three on fillers. As mentioned in the preface this rather unbalanced treatment has been partially remedied by a separate monograph, 'Fillers for Plastics', edited by W. C. Wake. Another feature which is not indicated by the title is the considerable emphasis on additives for poly(vinyl chloride). Although this is justified, in the case of plasticizers for example, by the very much larger consumption of plasticizers for PVC, further information concerning other polymers would have been useful, particularly in the case of stabilizers and fillers. Two short introductory chapters are followed by a chapter in which polymer types and additives are discussed. Useful information concerning requirements of additives, and types of additives used for different polymers are included in this chapter. The next
126 POLYMER, 1973, Vol 14, March
two chapters review the literature on theories of plasticizer action and compatibility, efficiency and permanence of plasticizers, but in the former case no work published later than 1961 is cited. Chapters on viscoelastic, mechanical, and electrical properties of polymers and polymer processing include much material which is available from other sources. In addition the large number of contributors has led to a certain amount of repetition, so that electrical properties, for example, are defined in two separate chapters. Much more relevant material is that on the manufacture, properties and analysis of plasticizers, while a chapter on formulation for specific applications is a useful one for reference purposes. Useful chapters on stabilizers and additives for particular applications are also included in the last two sections of the monograph. Much information on the effect of different types of filler on properties is quoted. Thus although parts of this monograph contain valuable reference material for the plastics technologist, other information presented is less relevant for a publication of this type, and the price of £8.00 is high for the amount of new material presented.
M. Gilbert
Reviews in polymer technology, Vol I Edited by Irving Skeist Marcel Dekker, New York, 1972, 252 pp. $19.50 This book is intended as the first volume of a series which will deal with current technology in the polymer-based industries and the six reviews included are illustrative of the range expected. The style and nature of the contents varies considerably. Plastics and other polymers in building is a short marketing oriented article with statistical data for the use of polymers drawn from Germany and the U K as well as the USA. The technology is sparse. The longest and most technological is Fire retardance in polymeric materials. This is an extremely thorough review which seems to be written in three parts. It starts with theoretical matters, then follows a section on the use of additives with emphasis on glass fibre reinforced plastics, empirical test results and smoke development and it concludes by a return to some theory applied to actual data. This method of treatment involves some repetition even to the extent of Fig. 25 virtually repeating Fig. 4. There is also in this otherwise valuable article a failure to consider the level of knowledge to be expected of the reader. Many of the simple chemical equations are mere padding and Figs 9 and 10 occupying whole pages are too elementary. The mechanism discussion leans heavily on radical mechanisms to the exclusion of physical factors such as heat conductance, heats of combustion and vapour diffusion. The empirical and unsatisfactory state of fire retardance comes out clearly as the direct result of the complexity of the processes which occur. In fact one is surprised at the amount of order the authors have managed to impose. The first review concerns Coupling agents as adhesion promotors. This also is extremely thorough in that it concludes with 346 references adding for good measure a page of general bibliography. As this suggests, it accepts all and in doing so fails to give the reader fresh to the subject a critical picture. Amino-silanes are not suitable coupling agents to use with polyesters but one doubts the ascription of release properties to the treated glass surface. In general, coupling agents will lower the surface energy of a metal or even a glass substrate but in so doing they discourage the preferential adsorption of water which would otherwise occur. Where direct chemical reaction between coupling agent and resin occurs it is true that simple displacement of resin by water is not possible but it is untrue to state that the primary bond is not susceptible to hydrolysis for most of the coupling agents used can hydrolyse although there is little loss in this since the polyester will itself hydrolyse given sufficient exposure to water. Processing powdered polyethylene is a competent state-of-the-art review of this technology. To the present writer the most modern of these reviews is Recent advances in photo-crosslinkable polymers. This concerns the use of polymers in photo-resist systems used in a number of ways but principally in the manufacture of integrated circuits. The review considers new polymers and their synthesis including materials such as poly(vinyl cinnamate) and its derivatives, poly(vinyl-2-furyl-acrylate), aryl azido condensation polymers,
Book]Reviews styryl ketones, methoxy stilbenes and acetylenic polyethers. Data are given for a range of photosensitizers and the whole is most interesting. The last review, Organic colorants for polymers, classifies these materials and concludes with a list of colorant chemical types conveniently arranged within the primary colours. This should be valuable. The printing and book binding are of the usual USA high standard, though the writing of some of the authors is less than elegant. For some unaccountable reason the review copy was printed on two different coloured papers; pp 1-111 being white and pp 113-252 having a distinct and very noticeable green tinge. This ought not to occur.
W. C. Wake
Polymer science and materials Edited by A. V. Tobolsky and H. F. Mark Wiley, New York and London, 1972, 432 pp. £10.05 This book, which is the first of two volumes, is intended, in the words of the editors, 'for the beginning student of polymer science or engineering, whether undergraduate, graduate, or employed in the polymer industry', and it attempts 'to present the fundamental ideas of polymer science in as simple a manner as possible'. Furthermore, it is also stated that 'an attempt has been made to retain a certain uniformity in the mode of presentation'. It must regrettably be admitted that these stated objectives have been only partly accomplished. Not only is the level of difficulty among the various contributors widely different, but the order of the chapters does not appear to be based on any obvious logical principle. Some of the earlier chapters in particular are overladen with mathematical formulations before the fundamental qualitative concepts underlying these formulations have been sufficiently clearly explained. Thus in Chapter 3 (Conformations of polymer molecules) the reader is confronted with advanced chain statistics in which references are made to the 'random-walk necklace model', the 'wormlike chain model', the 'elastic dumbbell model', etc., with practically no preparation. In the treatment of rubber elasticity (Chapter 9) insufficient care is given to clarity of presentation. The Gaussian network formulae are given in a form which contains the volume, and although it is stated that the volume is essentially constant, this obscures the essential simplicity of the results. The force-length relation for a non-Gaussian chain is derived (p 197) without defining the angle 0. No graphs are included to illustrate either the Gaussian or the non-Gaussian force-extension relations. The beginner would have great difficulty in understanding the relation between the mean-
Reprinted Volumes of
POLYMER 1960-1969 (Vols 1-10) Missing
volume
of P O L Y M E R library ?
in your
The first 10 volumes of POLYMER, covering the years 1960 to 1969, have now been reprinted in separate volumes (one per year) and are available at £15.00 ($39.00) per volume. All orders should be sent direct to: Wm Dawson and Sons Ltd, Cannon House, Folkestone, Kent, UK
square length of network chains and that of free chains, or the significance of the 'affine deformation' assumption. He would probably decide that rubber elasticity was not for him. This is a great pity, for the subject is one in which engineers in particular can find much of interest. The chapters which are concerned more with actual properties are much clearer. Chapter 10 (Viscoelastic properties of polymers) could well have preceded Chapter 6 (Phase transitions and vitrification). The chapters on crystallinity, on strength and on diffusion are well done. Later chapters, rather curiously entitled Science of rubbers, Science of plastics, and Science of fibres, which in fact are more concerned with industrial and technological aspects, are also very readable. The final chapter (Equilibrium polymerization) appears to have been added as an afterthought. There is much in this book that will be read with interest by those who are already familiar with polymer science. It definitely is not suitable for a first reading in the subject.
L. R. G. Treloar
Glycoproteins Edited by A. Gottschalk Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1972, Parts A and B, 1378 pp. Dfl. 400 (approx. £50) Since the first edition of this work appeared in 1966, the interest in glycoproteins has escalated dramatically and their relevance to a widening circle of biological interests has become apparent. It is a notable example of a subject, which just a few years ago was a somewhat despised poor cousin, now proverbially become the rich uncle. It is timely, therefore, that an authoritative survey such as this should be brought up-to-date in line with current results and ideas. The book, which now is published in two volumes, Parts A and B, is partly successful in achieving this aim. It gives a broad coverage of the whole area being concerned principally on the one hand with general aspects of glycoproteins (analytical techniques, structural analysis, applications of enzymes for study of chemical constitution etc.) and on the other with detailed considerations of well-defined classes of glycoproteins or individual members of this category. The closing chapters deal with some aspects of biosynthesis and functions of glycoproteins. Most of the authors who contributed to the first edition, happily, reappear in the second. In some cases, it is evident that their contributions have been extensively rewritten so as to embody much new information, while other chapters are republished virtually unchanged in substance or views. In one chapter, for example, only eight references to works post- 1966 are quoted, while another section has only four references which post-date the first edition. The contribution on the physico-chemical methods for determination of purity, molecular size and shape is a lengthy but readable survey providing a useful introduction to the various commoner techniques available. Many readers will appreciate especially the succinct and informative review of gas-liquid chromatographic techniques pertinent to glycoproteins. Elsewhere, inclusion of a brief chapter effectively on glycosaminoglycans of connective tissue is of interest, if only for comparative purposes. In general, the chapters on individual glycoproteins are well-written and authors have made judicious selections of examples for discussion. The book is well printed, the figures are adequately presented in most cases but the binding scarcely does justice to the volumes as a whole. Though one does not minimize the importance nor usefulness of the subject, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that at $125 the work is substantially overpriced. Few individuals will feel able to invest at such a price and some doubt will exist, even in the minds of some librarians, whether the proportion of new information which this new edition contains makes it worth the outlay. It can only be described as regrettable that a single subject index (though commendably thorough) to both Parts appears only at the end of Part B. Even if Part A is available separately, its use is seriously diminished without Part B. There is no author index to either Part. Nevertheless, this work stands as an outstanding source volume which will be of great service to research workers in many fields, and will be undoubtedly an added stimulus to further investigations.
P. W. Kent
POLYMER, 1973, Vol 14, March
127