Polymer Library

Concrete is the single most widely used material in the world. It’s strong, durable and versatile, capable of being formed into almost any shape. This makes it an ideal material for the construction of foundations, roadways, bridges, tunnels, dams, skyscrapers and more.

As explained in the “Introduction to Polymer-Modified Concrete,” when polymers are added to concrete, the resulting material is known as polymer-modified concrete (PMC), polymer cement concrete (PCC) or, when it’s used specifically on bridge decking, as latex-modified concrete (LMC). The many advantages of using PMC, PCC...

Concrete is an ancient material. It was used in the Middle East as early as 6,500 B.C. to construct floors, housing structures and underground cisterns. In the Roman era, circa 600 B.C., concrete was used even more extensively. Roman engineers poured their mix into wooden forms and stacked the hardened blocks like brick.

Choosing a polymer for your project: carboxylated or non-carboxylated?

Carboxylated latexes are the most widely used of all commercial latexes. When selecting the best emulsion polymer for your project, however, why would you choose a carboxylated polymer over a non-carboxylated polymer? It comes down to one property:...

What Are Acrylic Polymers and How Are They Used?

Acrylic polymer emulsions are one of the great success stories of modern industrial chemistry. The science behind this versatile class of polymers was perfected just after World War II, driven by an unprecedented housing boom and the demand for more versatile, more...

Styrene-acrylic emulsion polymers are based on a group of chemicals that are true workhorses in the field of polymer chemistry. Known as acrylates, this group includes acrylic acid and its esters — methyl acrylate, butyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate, and 2-ethylhexyl acrylate. All of these acrylic monomers are highly reactive...

If you lift the corner of a removable film, such as a protective coating applied to a mobile phone screen, it should pull away cleanly and easily. Try the same on a shipping label, and it should adhere stubbornly to the package. Both are adhesive applications, yet the needs are very different. The way an adhesive performs...

Over the last year, as the COVID-19 pandemic has extended from days to weeks to months, many organizations have been thinking about business resilience. One vulnerability exposed by the pandemic has been the fragility of complex supply chains, which was manifested by petrochemical supply-side issues and diversion of...

Synthetic Emulsion Polymers: Chemistry and Applications

A synthetic emulsion polymer is a milky liquid that is used to manufacture many products we encounter every day. From barrier coatings on food wrappers to the pressure-sensitive adhesive of a sticky note to the liquid applied waterproofing membrane under shower tiles,...

Hard and brittle? Soft and pliable? Or somewhere in between? The properties of polymers can vary greatly, and those properties can be tuned to meet a specific customer need. Whether you are considering a polymer for outdoor house paint or for the undercoating of an automobile, its behavior at the different temperatures...

With problem-detecting sensors, wireless connections, cloud-based security and real-time navigation, it’s easy to think that the high-tech features in today’s hot rides are all electronic. That, however, would be overlooking some of the most remarkable technologies that are making cars safer, quieter, less expensive and...

Vinyl acetate monomers (VAM) are essential building blocks for a large number of water-based polymers. Vinyl acetate is prepared from ethylene by reacting it with oxygen and acetic acid over a palladium catalyst. The basic chemical reaction is shown below, along with the chemical structure of vinyl acetate monomer.