| POLYMERS Vol.59 No.11 |
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COVER STORY
Progress in the Field of Commodity Polymers |
| Growing Polymers: A Personal Account |
| Through a Thought ‘KNOW WHY’ | Kazufumi KOBASHI |
| <Abstract> Have you had a basic philosophy on your research? Researchers have various thoughts about their research usually. Always trying to question your research may result in something scientifically important coming out of it. That is what I cherish. |
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| My Research Life Blessed with Various Encounters | Takaaki MATSUDA |
| <Abstract> This essay traces various encounters with wonderful people and research themes through my research life that provided precious experience for me. |
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| COVER STORY: Highlight Reviews |
| Control of Optical Properties and their Applications to Commodity Polymers | Hiromu SAITO and Tsukuru SANO |
| <Abstract> Commodity
polymers such as poly(methyl methacrylate), polycarbonate and poly(ethylene
terephthalate) are used as excellent optical materials by controlling
the optical properties; e.g., refractive index, birefringence, light scattering,
and light reflection. The optical properties of the commodity polymers
can be controlled by fabrication of various shapes, orientation, blending,
composite, and copolymerization. The control of the optical properties
and their applications are reviewed. Keywords: Refractive Index / Birefringence / Light Scattering / Light Reflection / Poly(methyl methacrylate) / Polycarbonate / Poly(ethylene terephthalate) |
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| Surface Modification to Enable Wide Application and High Functionalization of Polyolefin | Hitoshi KANAZAWA |
| <Abstract> Polyethylene
and polypropylene which are typical polyolefins are used in large quantities,
because they are lightweight, strong and cheap. But, they have properties
like non-polarity and chemical resistance. They are known as polymeric
materials for which modification is difficult to achieve. In this review,
general surface modification methods, and our patented method, “a combination
of an activation process and monomer or polymer treatment” are described.
The properties of materials modified by the present method are shown. Keywords: Polyolefin / Polyethylene / Polypropylene / Silicone Resin / Surface Modification / Water-Absorption / Adhesive and Painting Property / Solvent-Less Bonding |
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| Catalyst Technology for Next-Generation Polyolefins | Toshiaki TANIIKE and Minoru TERANO |
| <Abstract> The
development of next-generation polyolefins with outstanding properties
can be achieved by further development of improved catalysts. This review
highlights the recent progress of fundamental researches on olefin polymerization
catalysts, as a key for the future breakthrough in polyolefin technology. Keywords: Polyolefin / Ziegler-Natta Catalyst / Phillips Catalyst / Supported Homogeneous Catalyst |
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| Development of High Performance Polyolefins by Control of Stereoregularity | Tomoaki TAKEBE and Yutaka MINAMI |
| <Abstract> Polymeric
materials development has made great progress by the innovation of catalyst
technology for polymerization. Especially, polymerization of α-olefins
with metallocene catalysts is an impressive example. In recent years,
polyolefins have been expected to be used for various applications as
substitutions for other materials such as metal, paper and wood. Therefore,
metallocene catalysts are a key technology to produce high performance
polyolefins designed specifically for each application. In this review,
we describe techniques of controlling the stereoregularity in polyolefins
using metallocene catalysts. Novel polypropylene (LMPP) with low isotacticity
and high molecular weight, which is synthesized using specific C2-symmetric
doubly bridged metallocene complexes, is introduced as an example for
the control of isotacticity. This polymer has some isotactic sequences
in random order. Melting point and crystallinity were adjusted to exhibit
excellent elasticity, so that spunbond nonwovens with good elastic recovery
could be obtained. Keywords: Metallocene Catalyst / Stereoregularity / Isotactic Polypropylene / Nonwoven / Spunbond / Elastic Recovery |
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| COVER STORY:Topics and Products |
| Functionalization of Commodity Polymers by Reactive Processing | Yasuo KITA |
| <Abstract> Reactive
processing, or more accurately reactive polymer processing, is defined
as an operation in the polymer manufacturing process involving
a chemical reaction that is applied to various uses. The present paper
concentrates on its application to functionalization of commodity polymers. Keywords: Reactive Processing / Commodity Polymers / Functionalization |
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| Precise Control of Primary Structure for Poly(methacrylates) | Mitsufumi NODONO and Tetsuya NODA |
| <Abstract> Properties
and/or functionalities of polymeric materials can be achieved by precise
control of side-chain groups, tacticities, main chain structures,
segmented-block structures and/or chain end groups. We briefly review
some recent topics on the control of primary structures of poly(methacrylates)
by means of monomer architecture and metal-catalyzed polymerization to improve their properties and/or functionalities. Keywords: Methacrylic Polymers / PMMA / Tacticity / Stereo Specific / Cyclic Polymer / Block Copolymer / Catalytic Chain Transfer / Macromonomer |
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| Non-Halogen Flame Retardant Olefinic Compound “OLEFISTAR®” | Masaki YOSHITOME |
| <Abstract> Today
we produce a non-halogen flame retardant poly olefinic compound used
for wire and cable insulation. We usually evaluate a flame resistance
characteristic of a material by a UL94V flame test or an oxygen index.
Recently, we are also studying the flame resistance capacity by the cone
calorimeter as more quantitative evaluation method. Keywords: Non-Halogen / Flame Retardant / VW-1 / UL94 / Cone Calorimeter |
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| Development of Polycarbonate Automotive Glazing | Toshiaki HOTAKA |
| <Abstract> The
total solution support including not only the material development but
also the production engineering development is necessary to achieve weight reduction for car bodies with the polycarbonate resin. Teijin chemicals can shorten customer's lead time of the application development by using “TEIJIN solution support system”. Keywords: Polycarbonate / Automotive Glazing / Injection Press Molding / 2-Component Injection Molding / Hard-Coat / Application Development STUDIO Solution Support |
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| A New Phenolic Resin for Future Materials | Gen-ichi KONISHI |
| <Abstract> We
now report a new class of phenolic resin prepared by the addition-condensation
of Designed phenol (masked phenol derivative) with formaldehyde. The
unique
polymerization behaviors and properties of the obtained alkoxylated novolacs
were observed due to the effect of protecting the phenolic hydroxyl group. Keywords: Phenolic Resin / Designed Phenol / Precision Polymerization / Future Materials |
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| Front-Line Polymer Science |
| Biosilica Inspired Approach towards Construction of Hierarchically Structured Materials | Ren-Hua JIN |
| <Abstract> Silica
biomineralization occurs in water under ambient conditions for various
biological systems such as diatoms and sponges, producing exquisite
hierarchical structures and multiple morphologies with precise nano/microscale
control. This biosilicification inspired chemists and materials scientists
to mimick the biosilica formation. An important issue in biosilicification is the role of organic matrices such as silaffin (polypeptides), silicatein (proteins) and long chain polyamine, which are indispensable in the formation of the silica frustule. A lot of efforts have been invested in using basic organic compounds and polyamines in silica deposition in order to understand biosilicification and to construct silica-based nanomaterials. Many new insights can be derived from mimicking biosilica using organic matrices. One is that the basic organic matrices employed in the biomimetic silicification have to be good catalysts for silica deposition and good templates for directing shaped silica. Another one is that crystalline aggregates, self-organized from linear polyethyleneimine [-CH2CH2NH-] entities, can act as efficient scaffolds, catalysts and templates directing complexly shaped nano-structured silica and nano-textured silica thin films. Keywords: Biosilica / Polyamines / Replication / Hierarchy / Biomimetic Silicification / Sol-Gel |
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