Resumen de Book Review of Polymer Data Handbook, 2nd Edition
Polymer Data Handbook, 2nd Edition edited by James E. Mark Oxford University Press: Oxford/New York, 2009. xii þ 1250 pp.
ISBN: 978-0195181012 (hardbound). $195.
reviewed by George B. Kauffman This handbook, edited by James E. Mark, Distinguished Research Professor at the University of Cincinnati, presents in a standardized, readily accessible tabular format concise information on the syntheses, structures, properties, and applications of the most important polymeric materials currently in industrial use or under study for potential new industrial or academic applications. The polymers were selected for inclusion on the basis of three criteria: (1) current commercial importance;
(2) novel applications; and (3) unusual interest, for example, use in fundamental studies of the effects of chain stiffness, selfassembly, or biochemical processes. The properties presented for each polymer include many of immense current interest such as surface and interfacial properties, pyrolyzability, electrical conductivity, and nonlinear optical properties. Some of the polymers that exhibit properties shown by few others (e.g., electroluminescence) are presented as properties of special interest.
The second edition of this handbook has been updated with significant expansions of almost all the original articles and the inclusion of new articles on other polymers, especially those that became important or interesting since publication of the first edition in 1999 (xi þ 1018 pp). It includes better values of properties already reported, properties not reported in time for the first edition, and completely new properties that have become important for modern polymer applications. It presents key data on 217 polymers, 20 of which are new to this edition, especially in high technology areas such as microlithography and nanophotonics. Specific examples include “foldamer” self-assembling polymers, silsesquioxane ladder polymers, and block copolymers that separate into “mushrooms”, ellipsoids, and sheets.
The entries, alphabetically arranged from acrylonitrilebutadiene elastomers to vinylidene fluoride-hexafluoropropylene elastomers, include acronyms, trade names, polymer class, tables of properties, and references to articles, books, patents, and Internet sites for further study, some as recent as 2007. The entries were written by an international team of 168 contributors carefully selected for their expertise in their particular polymers and were then reviewed by one or more referees. The goal was to facilitate searches on the printed book and electronically on the online Web site (1). This volume should interest researchers and technologists who require a comprehensive reference source on polymers and their properties.
