Thermoplastic polymers in biomedical applications: Structures, properties and processing

Abstract

In general thermoplastic polymers are made up of long linear chain molecules which exhibit large scale chain mobility and deformation under shear forces above their softening temperature. This change is reversible. Above this temperature the thermal motions of the chain segments are sufficient to overcome inter- and intra-molecular forces. At room temperature the material is a viscoelastic solid. Their behaviour is dependent on chain morphology, structure, crystallinity and the types of additives added (often to aid processing). The materials can easily be processed into different type of products and are considered to be the most important class of plastic materials commercially available. The proeessability of this class of plastics is a key characteristic for developing biomedical applications.