QUESTIONS

1. Define (a) a thermoplastic, (b) thermosetting plastics, (c) elastomers, and (d) thermoplastic
elastomers.
2. What are the major advantages of plastics compared to ceramics, glasses, and metallic
materials?
3. Kevlar is used in various applications from tires to body armor due to its high strength-to-
weight ratio. The polymer is produced from the monomers paraphenylene diamine and
terephthaloyl chloride by the following reaction:

(a) What type of polymerization does the above reaction represent?

4. The molecular weight of polystyrene is 5,4×10 6 g/mol.

If all of the polymer chains are the same length, (a) calculate the degree of polymerization.

5. The degree of polymerization of polytetrafluoroethylene is 7500.

If all of the polymer chains are the same length, calculate (a) the molecular weight of the
chains.

6. Analysis of a sample of polyacrylonitrile shows that there are six lengths of chains, with the
following number of chains of each length. Complete the charge and determine both the
number and weight average molecular weights.

NUMBER Mean xi xiMi Weight fi fiMi

OF Molecular
CHAINS Weight of
Chains
(g/mol)
10000 3000
18000 6000
17000 9000
15000 12000
9000 15000
4000 18000