UKPCS Science Chemistry: POLYSTYRENE #64

Oracle IAS, the best coaching institute for UPSC/IAS/PCS preparation in Dehradun brings to you UKPCS Science Chemistry (paper 6). 

POLYSTYRENE

Polystyrene is a synthetic aromatic polymer made from the monomer styrene.POLYSTYRENE

Properties : Polystyrene can be solid or foamed. General-purpose polystyrene is clear, hard, and rather brittle. It is an inexpensive resin per unit weight. It is a rather poor barrier to oxygen and water vapor and has a relatively low melting point. Polystyrene is one of the most widely used plastics, the scale of its production being several million tonnes per year. Polystyrene can be naturally transparent, but can be colored with colorants.

Uses include protective packaging (such as packing peanuts and CD and DVD cases), containers (such as “clamshells”), lids, bottles, trays, tumblers, and disposable cutlery.

As a thermoplastic  (A thermoplastic, or thermosoftening plastic, is a plastic material, a polymer, that becomes pliable or moldable above a specific temperature and solidifies upon cooling. Thermoplastics differ from thermosetting polymers, which form irreversible chemical bonds during the curing process. Thermosets do not melt, but decompose and do not reform upon cooling.) polymer, polystyrene is in a solid (glassy) state at room temperature but flows if heated above about 100 °C, its glass transition temperature. It becomes rigid again when cooled. This temperature behavior is exploited for extrusion (as in Styrofoam) and also for molding and vacuum forming, since it can be cast into molds with fine detail.

Polystyrene is very slow to biodegrade and is therefore a focus of controversy among environmentalists.


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Hemant Bhatt

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