Andrady Anthony L, Neal Mike A
Research Triangle Institute, Durham, NC 27709, USA.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2009 Jul 27;364(1526):1977-84. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2008.0304.
This article explains the history, from 1600 BC to 2008, of materials that are today termed 'plastics'. It includes production volumes and current consumption patterns of five main commodity plastics: polypropylene, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene and polyethylene terephthalate. The use of additives to modify the properties of these plastics and any associated safety, in use, issues for the resulting polymeric materials are described. A comparison is made with the thermal and barrier properties of other materials to demonstrate the versatility of plastics. Societal benefits for health, safety, energy saving and material conservation are described, and the particular advantages of plastics in society are outlined. Concerns relating to littering and trends in recycling of plastics are also described. Finally, we give predictions for some of the potential applications of plastic over the next 20 years.
本文阐述了从公元前1600年至2008年如今被称作“塑料”的材料的历史。它涵盖了五种主要通用塑料的产量及当前消费模式:聚丙烯、聚乙烯、聚氯乙烯、聚苯乙烯和聚对苯二甲酸乙二酯。文中描述了使用添加剂来改变这些塑料的性能,以及由此产生的聚合材料在使用过程中任何相关的安全问题。将塑料与其他材料的热性能和阻隔性能进行了比较,以展示塑料的多功能性。阐述了塑料在健康、安全、节能和材料节约方面给社会带来的益处,并概述了塑料在社会中的特殊优势。还描述了与塑料垃圾及塑料回收趋势相关的问题。最后,我们对未来20年塑料的一些潜在应用进行了预测。