Novel Reinforcements for Plastics

The market for polymers will continue to expand considerably if their properties are improved still further, in particular with respect to their resistance to wear. Also, an increase in the range of temperatures in which polymers can be used, by increasing the transition temperature, would present even greater competition to emtallic products for certain applications. Finally, other properties which could be improved include the resistance to vapor permeability, the electrical conductivity, etc. Special, and novel inorganic additives represent one way of attaining such objectives, allowing polymers to compete more with metals. (Reinforcing particles: carbides and nitrides of titanium, zirconium, and hafnium. Example matrix polymer: epoxy resin.)