Inorganic Polymers
Generally polymer substances are made from repeat units or monomers which are carbon compounds. When polymers are produced using repeat units which contain chemical elements other than carbon, inorganic polymers are produced. The best example of such inorganic polymers is silicone rubber. Its repeat unit is based on silicon and oxygen. Similar silicon-oxygen linkage is found in sand, quartz and glass.
These polymers were developed while looking for better insulating material for manufacturing electric generators and motors.
Silicone rubber shows the property of withstanding extreme temperature and is normally able to operate between -55°C to 300°C. At these extreme temperatures, it shows much better tensile strength, elongation tear strength and compressive strength than natural rubber. Natural rubber has a backbone based on carbon making it vulnerable to actions of ozone, ultra violet rays, heat and other ageing factors. Therefore, silicone rubber is usually chosen for use under extreme conditions. But, it has a disadvantage of having very low tensile strength compared to natural rubber. Silicone rubber does not react with most chemicals and highly inert. For this reason, silicon rubber is used for many medical applications including medical implants.
Use of silicone rubber is becoming more common nowadays. It has application in automobiles as well as in cooking, baking and food storage products. It is expected that use of silicone rubber will become more common in the future.
This entry was posted on Thursday, August 21st, 2008 at 12:33 pm and is filed under Polymers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.