High-performance plastics are plastics that meet higher requirements than standard (commodity) or engineering plastics. They are more expensive and used in smaller amounts.
Definition
High performance plastics differ from standard plastics and engineering plastics primarily by their temperature stability, but also by their chemical resistance and mechanical properties, production quantity, and price. There are many synonyms for the term high-performance plastics, such as: high temperature plastics, high-performance polymers, high performance thermoplastics or high-tech plastics. The name high temperature plastics is in use due to their continuous service temperature (CST), which is always higher than 150 °C by definition (although this is not their only feature, as it can be seen above). The term "polymers" is often used instead of "plastics" because both terms are used as synonyms in the field of engineering. However, the differentiation from less powerful plastics has varied over time; while nylon and poly(ethylene terephthalate) were initially considered powerful plastics, they are now ordinary.
History The improvement of mechanical properties and thermal stability is and has always been an important goal in the research of new plastics. Since the early 1960s, the development of high-performance plastics has been driven by corresponding needs in the aerospace and nuclear technology. Synthetic routes for example for PPS, PES and PSU were developed in the 1960s by Philips, ICI and Union Carbide. The market entry took place in the early 70s. A production of PEEK (ICI), PEK (ICI) and PEI (General Electric) via polycondensation was developed in the 1970s. PEK was offered since 1972 by Raychem, however, made by an electrophilic synthesis. Since electrophilic synthesis has in general the disadvantage of a low selectivity to linear polymers and is using aggressive reactants, the product could hold only a short time on the market. For this reason, the majority of high-performance plastics is nowadays produced by polycondensation processes. In manufacturing processes by polycondensation a high purity of the starting materials is important. In addition, the stereochemistry plays a role in achieving the desired properties in general. The development of new high-performance plastics is therefore closely linked to the development and economic production of the constituent monomers.
Characteristics High performance plastics meet higher requirements than standard and engineering plastics because of their more desirable mechanical properties, higher chemical and/or a higher heat stability. Especially the latter makes processing difficult, often requiring specialized machinery. Most high-performance plastics are exploited for a single property (e.g. heat stability), in contrast to engineering plastics which provide moderate performance over a wider range of properties. Some of their diverse applications include: fluid flow tubing, electrical wire insulators, architecture, and fiber optics. High performance plastics are relatively expensive: The price per kilogram may be between $5 (PA 46) and $100 (PEEK). The average value is slightly less than 15 US-Dollar/kg. High-performance plastics are thus about 3 to 20 times as expensive as engineering plastics. In the future, a significant price decline cannot be expected, since the investment costs for production equipment, the time-consuming development, and the high distribution costs are going to remain constant. Since production volumes are very limited with 20.000 t/year the high-performance plastics are holding a market share of just about 1%. Among the high-performance polymers, fluoropolymers have 45% market share (main representatives: PTFE), sulfur-containing aromatic polymers 20% market share (mainly PPS), aromatic polyarylether and Polyketones 10% market share (mainly PEEK) and liquid crystal polymers (LCP) 6%. The two largest consumers of high-performance plastics are the electrical and electronics industries (41%) and the automotive industry (24%). All remaining industries (including chemical industry) have a share of 23%.
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