Plastics - Manufacture And Processing

Manufacture and processing

When polymers are produced, they are shipped in pelletized, granulated, powdered, or liquid form to plastics processors. When the polymer is still in its raw material form, it is referred to as a resin. This term antedates the understanding of the chemistry of polymer molecules and originally referred to the resemblance of polymer liquids to the pitch on trees.

Plastics can be formed or molded under pressure and heat, and many can be machined to high degrees of tolerance in their hardened states. Thermoplastics are plastics that can be heated and reshaped; thermosets are plastics that cannot.