ABSTRACT
It is only in general terms that we can differentiate fabrication from other processes that carry out the steps that change a fraction of natural gas into a sweater, a petroleum fraction into a garbage can, or linseed oil into a bucket of paint. The fabricator sometimes starts with monomers or prepolymers, but more often with polymers. A customer may change the ingredients physically and perhaps chemically. He or she may be the ultimate user, as with the garbage can or paint, or may be someone who changes the physical form again, as with the fiber for the apparel manufacturer. Several fabricators may add to the value of materials they process in sequence. One company may produce a rubbery polymer, a second may compound it, a third may convert it into a sheet, and a fourth finally may form the sheet into a gasket. Liaison between the polymer producer and the ultimate user is a difficult and demanding facet of polymer technology. Because the ultimate user often has limited technical resources and is preoccupied with immediate problems, most polymer and monomer producers have built up substantial technical service organizations to generate techniques and materials (together with immense quantities of data) that guide fabricators and provide a basis for selecting the best polymers and fabrication conditions for a given application. Rather than covering all of fabrication processes in one very large chapter, this topic is presented in two chapters. This chapter provides a description of raw materials used in fabrications, mixing and compounding, fabrication of coatings and adhesives, application of polymers to microelectronics, polymeric membranes for separation processes, and finally applications of polymers in medicine. Extrusion and molding in their various forms are discussed in Chapter 14 as these processes are the workhorses of the plastic industry and use up the majority (about 80%) of all the polymers consumed.
