3.2 Materials Sites

3.2.1 Polymers and Composites

Polymers Meta Sites

Table 1. POLYMERS, META SITES
Name Host Materials Type of links
Polylinks Phoenix Polymers, Inc. polymers & plastics,
additives & reinforcement,
thermoplastic compounds,
polymer liquid crystals, etc.		 Organizations, Institutes,
Research, Producers,
Resellers, etc.
Polymeric Materials
Related Resources		 Cornell University polymers & plastics,
liquid crystalline optical
materials (Kent), polymer
chemistry		 Institutes, General
Polymer-links Danish Society for
Polymer Technology		 polymers, plastics and
rubber, compounds		 Academia, General,
Newsgroups
Polymers DotCom. It incorporates Poly-links, with the goal to index web sites pertaining to plastics and polymers, and Poly Content, designed to provide an index to Internet's technical content on polymer information. Poly-links is indexing polymer producers, compounders, additives and reinforcement producers, research institutes, government agencies, organizations, scientific- and engineering companies, commercial services (consulting, testing, marketing and advertising), academia; colleges and institutes with strong polymer programs, process equipment and processing supply manufacturers, resellers, distributors, brokers, etc., recyclers, injection molders and processors, software product suppliers, etc. Cornell University has a list of Polymeric Materials Related Resources, in academia and general, and the Danish Society for Polymer Technology also has useful polymer-links. List of Databases Materials Selection (Producers Databases) EducationalSpecific SitesOnline Journals Jump to Composites
Table 2. POLYMERS, DATABASES
Name Host Materials Properties Access Mode Comments
Adhemix Questel-Orbit structural glues nature, applications,
joint mechanical resistance,
operating requirements, etc.		 WWW,
subscript		 on the French
market
CAMPUS M-Base Engineering
+ Software GmbH		 engineering
plastics		 rheological, mechanical,
thermal, electrical		 PC-disks,
commercial
WWW		 standard system in
combination with
database software
GIANT IMA Materialforschung
und Anwendungstechnik		 thermoplastics and
thermosetting moulding
materials		 physical and
technological data		 PC-disks,
commercial		 validated data
LiqCryst 2.1 Liquid Crystal Group,
Univ. of Hamburg		 liquid crystalline
compounds (thermotropic
liquid crystals)		 chemical structures and
physical data. Statistical
tools for the analysis
of structure-properties
relationships.		 PC-disks,
commercial
PLASCAMS Rapra Technology, Ltd thermoplastics, thermosets,
composites and elastomers		 physical, mechanical
thermal, electric, etc.		 PC disks,
commercial		 validated producers
data, suppliers/trade
names
Prospector

Plastic Material
Data Sheets

 IDES, Inc. different resin grades various
properties (+100),
property listing
with test methods		 CD, PC-disks,
and WWW,
subscript		 producers data

directory listing
of plastics data
sheets indexed by
Trade Names and
Manufacturers
POLYMAT Technical Dataservice
Herrlich GmbH		 thermoplastics, thermoplastic
elastomers, thermosetting resins,
and casting resins		 physical, mechanical
thermal, electric,
optical, corrosion and weathering,
processing prop.		 PC-disks,
CD-ROM,
coming on
the web		 was formerly
hosted online
by STN
PROCHEM IMA plastics and elastomers resistance and change of properties
in chemical media		 PC-disks,
commercial		 validated data

ADHEMIX

Structural glues on the French market that can be used to join materials. The various adhesives are identified by 17 indexes relative to brand and supplier names, nature, application and joint mechanical resistance, maximum ambient thermal conditions acceptable by the joint as well as operating requirements and procedures. The database is produced by Commissariat le Energie Atomique. It is available online on Questel. The coverage is from 1979 to present with biannually updating, the language is French. 

GIANT

Thermoplastic material groups and thermosetting moulding materials. Physical and technological data, characteristics. IMA Materialforschung und Anwendungstechnik GmbH. 

IDES, Inc. Integrated Design Engineering Systems

provides software tools and information used to improve and expedite engineering design in the plastics industry. Software include Material Database- and Cost Estimating Products. Internet access to Plastic Material Data Sheets for subscribers. A free software can be downloaded. This is an accumulation of articles, databases and programs that relate to plastic materials, materials selection and plastic part cost analysis. The software contains a plastics data sampler. The sampler includes a listing of generic plastic material types with descriptions, applications, advantages/disadvantages, and material properties. 

Liquid Crystal Group, Univ. of Hamburg

Liquid crystals cover a wide range of chemical structures, including rod-like molecules, disc-like molecules, amphiphilic materials, cellulosa derivatives, steroids, etc. Typical applications are LCD displays, surfactants, membranes, color pigments, advanced materials. LiqCryst 2.1 is a database for liquid crystalline compounds (on PCs, running with Windows 3.1 or 95). It contains the chemical structures and physical data of all known thermotropic liquid crystals including metallomesogens, combined polymers, lipids, soaps, etc. The goals of LiqCryst are as follows: documentation of all kinds of information on liquid crystals, analysis and comparison of all properties, the prediction of physical properties. This database offers statistical tools for the analysis of structure-properties relationships. The data is very thoroughly evaluated; Whenever possible, data has been checked for consistency; Where available, data of the same compound, but from different sources has been included. It?s a commercial system. LiqCryst for Polymers is a special data selection which is only based on polymer liquid crystals and related materials. 

PLASCAMS

A product from Rapra Technology, Ltd. PLASCAMS is an independent PC based plastics materials selection program covering thermoplastics, thermosets, composites and thermoplastic elastomers. It is the result of the practical technical expertise of Rapra?s consultants, allied to testing and validation programmes applied to different material types. It's independence implies that the data is not regenerated from supplier catalogues but is independently validated by a panel of experts in plastics technology. It contains 61 searchable properties covering main application requirements. Material properties are presented in a way which allows realistic comparison between material types. Plascams also includes a information database about each material consisting of 3 seperate modules; respectively materials data sheets, materials texts, and suppliers/trade names database. The price for one years rental of the Plascams package is currently £375. 

POLYMAT

The POLYmer MATerial Database contains numeric data on commercially available plastic materials including thermoplastics, thermoplastic elastomers, thermosetting resins, and casting resins. Properties and characteristics for about 10 000 plastic products of about 100 manufacturers are searchable. These include material information, physical and chemical characteristics, mechanical, electrical, thermal and optical properties, flammability, corrosion and weathering, processing properties, and additional fields covering test specimen description, etc. Bibliographic information is also searchable. The database producer is Deutsches Kunstoffinstitut. It used to be distributed by STN International, but is now available from Technical Dataservice Herrlich GmbH.

PROCHEM

Resistance and change of properties of plastics in chemical media. Chemical resistance of elastomers. IMA Materialforschung und Anwendungstechnik GmbH. 

Materials Selection (Producers Databases)

Table 3. POLYMERS, MATERIALS SELECTION
Name Host Materials Properties Access Mode
GE Select GE Plastics commercially available
resin grades		 mechanical, physical,
thermal, electric		 WWW, free
Materials Selection
Database		 PLASPEC Network thermoplastics,
thermosets, elastomers		 mechanical, physical,
thermal, electric		 WWW, subscript
Thermoplastic Material
Selection Guide		 Endura Plastics regular and high
temperature thermoplastics		 various WWW, free
info of general
nature

Endura Plastics, Inc.

Endura Plastics is an injection molder which provides useful educational information on the processing of plastics. They have a selection guide, Guide to High Temperature Thermoplastics, and more. 

GE Select

GE Select is a material selection tool. This database covers GE polymers for the automotive, aircraft, appliance, and consumer packaging industries, and provides complete properties and engineering data on commercially available resin grades. This product becomes available by filling in a registration form. GE Plastics, a division of General Electric Company, established early a site providing technical information to serve the plastics industry; data sheets, property- and design guides, injection molding guides for their products. An illustrated tour to thermoplastics, including history, properties, design and injection moulding is shown. Information on thermoplastics can be obtained from GE, Endura, and the Plastics Technology Center (U.S. suppliers) for example. 

PLASPEC Network. Materials Selection Database

The database contains properties and characteristics on plastic resins, including thermoplastics, thermosets and elastomers. Information for the database is obtained directly from resin manufacturers and is reviewed with them regularly for accuracy. A free trial of the database is offered. The PLASPEC Network is an electronic resource of polymer information. It has among other things; materials selection information, Plastics Industry market data, news on plastics, machinery selection databases. 

Plastics Technology Center

The PTC is a designer, developer, and producer of engineered plastic parts and assemblies. At their web site "Industry References" is maintained as a service to the Plastics Industry and to University Polymer Science/Plastics Engineering programs. Features among other things; An Introduction to Plastics, excellent reading for the beginning polymer student; the Polymers FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) from the usenet sci.polymers newsgroup; and a listing of Thermoplastics and their suppliers. 

Educational

Intro to Polymers

The Polymer Building is a project to enhance polymer education using hypertext technology to link together the basics of polymer science. Includes Polymer and Coatings Science, and Polymer Chemistry. The latter comprehends adhesion, coatings, mechanical properties, molecular weight, polymer solutions, time-temperature superposition and viscosity. (There are keyword search functions to take you to a link about a topic.) 

Specific Sites

Table 4. POLYMERS, SPECIFIC SITES
Name Host Features Materials Properties
Epoxy Home Page Epoxy Systems, Inc. Product Information,
Product Application Guide		 epoxy, resins and
Methyl Methacrylate,
Vinyl Ester Systems		 application properties,
physical and tensile
prop.
Geopolymers Geopolymer Institute Scientific Papers
published in
international journals		 geopolymers various
homepage Polyurethane Foam
Association		 Industry Standards and
Guidelines, Glossaries,
Health and Safety Issues		 flexible
Polyurethane Foam		 standards for
furniture applications;
density, tensile and
tear strength, elongation,
flex fatigue and softening,
flammability
PVC Centre Ramsay Plastics Information; production
of PVC, and PVC product
routes, Environmental Issues,
Links to PVC, chlorine and
plastics		 polyvinyl chloride no direct data

Epoxy Home Page

Epoxy Systems, Inc. Technical data sheets for their products. Info on epoxy, resins and Methyl Methacrylate (MMA). Examples of problems suitable for epoxy solutions. 

Geopolymer information

In the library section the Geopolymer Institute presents some representative scientific papers published in international journals. They are meant to provide the reader with up-to-date information on the properties and applications of geopolymers. 

Polyurethane Foam Association

Information on key issues and product characteristics that may be of interest to users, researchers and academia are given, as for example Joint Industry Foam Standards and Guidelines. These are voluntary standards, guidelines and practices for furniture applications. Glossary of terms related to materials, production, and testing, etc. Health and safety issues. Abstracts will be included. 

The PVC Centre

This is an independant web site providing an introduction to PVC, its importance to society and links into the world of PVC. There is a segment with recently published articles about PVC and press releases from the industry. Environmental issues are also dealt with. The site is sponsored by Ramsay Plastics, agent in the UK for EVC Savinil, an Italian based major producer of food grade rigid PVC and PET film for the European thermoforming industry. The links lead to organizations in the PVC and chlorine industries, as well as plastics- and chlorine information sources online. 

Online Journals

Materie Plastiche ed Elastomeri

This magazine is an italian trade publication in the field of plastic and synthetic elastomers. It offers its readers e.g. scientific, technical and economic articles, market research, press releases, and bibliographic reviews. It is published once a month. It is written in Italian, but has however summaries in English. NEXT PREVIOUS TOP