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Dr. Dmitri Kopeliovich
Elastomers are polymers possessing high elasticity - may be reversibly stretched at high degree.
Elastomers consists of long lightly cross-linked molecules.
Common elastomers are:
Elastomers may be strengthened by vulcanization process (heat treatment in presence of chemical agents).
Vulcanization results in increase of cross-linking of the molecules.
Vulcanized elastomers are elastic for small deformations.
Vulcanization produces cross-links which make impossible shaping material. Therefore most of elastomers are shaped before cross-linking.
However there are some elastomer materials which are not cross-linked when heated. These elastomers may be reversibly remolded by heating many times (like Thermoplastics).
Such kind of elastomers is called Thermoplastic Elastomers.
Thermoplastic elastomers are manufactured by copolymerization of two or more monomers forming block polymers or graft polymers.
Common thermoplastic elastomers are:
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