Industry Guide to Polymer Nanocomposites

In the last few years the subject of polymer nanocomposites has become a major field of materials research, aiming to study and control the properties of materials at dimensions of a few hundred nanometres, where unique phenomena enable novel applications. Both academia and industry are investigating these materials for many potential applications. Polymer nanocomposites under optimum nanostructuring conditions have shown great improvements in mechanical, thermal, flame retardancy, gas barrier and other properties. In a rapidly advancing field there are already a number of books that examine the theory and developments in particular areas, but no book to date has addressed the current state of knowledge and diversity of applications from an industrial viewpoint. This new book from Plastics Information Direct aims to fill this gap, and demonstrate to an industrial audience the current scope and potential benefits of polymeric nanocomposite applications. The book focuses on the development of polymer nanocomposites for commercial applications, and there are contributions from the industry and academia, which will enable the reader to understand why nanocomposites are already finding applications in the automotive area, the army, aerospace applications, the wire and cable industry and other market segments. The fillers for nanocomposites, their processing and toxicology are also reviewed.