Extrusion Basics: Material Matters, and So Do Quantity and Measurement
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Loading... - Beatrice Serra
- 22 Feb 2023
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If you are buying formulated compounds, do you really know what’s in them and how much?
The Romans needed a holiday in midwinter as they didn't do Christmas or New Year and followed the agricultural year, as did the Jews. The new moon told them when another month had passed. So they started the feast of Februa, which led to this month's name.
They knew about many elements and even made glass and bronze but didn't understand chemistry and biology. We get it in school but most of us forget soon thereafter. Worse yet, many reject the rules of science and are proud of it.
They are then “free” to follow the lawless pulls of convenience and popular images. They may even agree to the existence of plastic pollution even though plastics are not toxic to us, can't be digested, and are not even a major contributor to global warming.
Chemistry is not magic
In extrusion, chemistry tells us why melt temp control is critical to avoid chain breaks and degradation from overheating. Energy is stored in connected atoms, is countable, and doesn't suddenly appear or disappear. Chemistry is not magic or even a danger, but is just a language that describes substances and their interaction. A lot of people fear chemical-sounding names; to them water isn’t a chemical with two hydrogens and one oxygen (H2O) but is “natural.” And all additives “leach.”
Another “natural” chemical is chlorophyll, the green stuff in plants that takes carbon dioxide from the air, water from the ground, and energy from the sun to make fruits and leaves. People are afraid of chlorine, but chlorophyll has no chlorine. The root chloro just means green in Greek. Chlorine gas is, in fact, green, but PVC (polyvinyl chloride) isn’t green because it's a chloride, like common salt (sodium chloride). PVC has no more chlorine gas than salt, but chemicals that make our tap water drinkable may. That's the language of chemistry in action. Read More…
