ABSTRACT
Plastic materials are widely used in numerous industries. The physiochemical nature of these materials provides a multitude of diverse products with their necessary, desirable performance characteristics. Commercial plastics are very complex materials. In addition to the various base polymers, commercially viable plastics contain a number of compounding ingredients (additives) whose purpose is to give the material its desired physical and/or chemical properties. Table 1 provides a brief summary of the types of additives typically encountered in commercial polymer systems.
