Even though polymers are thought to be a commodity, knowing a little chemistry would help your job

The plastics industry has many ramifications, from machines to polymers, from finished products to research and development, from additives to process control technology, just to name a few.

Services, products and machines are all directed towards the use of recycled or virgin plastic, to create, in the best way, at the best price lowest and in the shortest time, a market that can support the company.

Sales activities are only the final part of a process carried out by the company to bring a series of products to the market, creating profit and allowing production continuity or distributive.

But if it is true that the human resources destined to create a plastic product must also have technical skills, regarding the processes and materials used, there is a tendency not to consider the quality of the technical knowledge of those employed in the commercial sector.

The skills for selling a product or service are often associated, again, with the character quality of the sellers, with their resourcefulness, their persuasiveness, their empathy, courtesy, sympathy and the charisma that everyone's character manages to produce on the final customer.

Actually, much of what is described above is true and certainly helps in one's work, but the world of products that revolve around plastic materials, it needs to be managed by personnel who can have knowledge of basic chemistry and production mechanics.

And if, as regards the in-depth part on the production systems of one's company, they can, through a smattering, improve the professionalism of the seller or the employee after sales, knowledge of the basic chemistry can make the sales action more effective and allows you to manage the emergence of any problems in a more competent way.

However, knowledge of basic chemistry is not only useful for plastic raw materials, but also to improve knowledge of reactions thermal, hydraulic and electrical systems that the company uses.

The intent here is not to explain the concepts of basic chemistry , but give in-depth ideas on topics that could be useful for one's profession in sales or after-sales.

Speaking of basic chemistry we can mention the importance of atoms and molecules, in fact an atom is the smallest part of a substance, which may be solid, at the temperature of the earth's surface, liquid or gaseous.

Elements can have different quantities of particles and have different physical positions, in fact, protons and neutrons are in the nucleus of the atom , while the electrons go around the nucleus repelling each other.

Molecules are combinations of simple elements that we find in nature or that we can synthesize. They can be different elements such as water or carbon dioxide and some are not that simple.

Also, oxygen and other reactive gases spin in pairs until they find something to react with: oxygen in the The air we breathe, for example, reacts with the nutrients we eat and digest.

This introduction to atoms and their compounds leads to an understanding of how electricity is born, which is made up of the movement of excess electrons on In fact, a surface's electrical energy relies on the movement of electrons through conductors (usually metals), and it requires energy to push those electrons through the resistance of the conductor.

In our work we frequently use water which, specifically, is not an element but a compound, the masterful combination between two hydrogens and an oxygen, just as it may be interesting to deepen the knowledge of the metals used in the processing of plastic materials.

Indeed, many metals are elements, such as iron, copper, gold, lead and aluminum, but some are alloys (zinc + copper = brass, tin + copper = bronze) and some are an element that has been worked, especially iron with steel.

Some are found in nature as elements, but most are found as compounds (minerals), and some, such as sodium and calcium, are so reactive that they are never found uncombined, as, for example, sodium chloride or common salt.

Elements such as carbon and silicon are extremely abundant, usually bonded with other elements. Carbon compounds are the basis of organic chemistry and form the molecules of living things as well as most plastics.

To get to the end of this roundup, understand how these basic chemistry elements, to be explored at your convenience, can have a connection with the plastics, we have to talk about the last important item which is air, which is not an element, but a mixture of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% argon (inert), and a some carbon dioxide and water (not inert and very important despite their low percentages).

Going back to the world of plastic materials, we can say that polymers are made up of different molecules, whose bonds and ramifications can cause the polymer itself to change under different points of sight.

For example, the molecules of ethylene and vinyl chloride (PVC), the constituent parts of two families of very common plastics, they can have a double bond, possible because a carbon atom has four arms and can hold another carbon with two of them, leaving the other two to hold hydrogens, oxygens, chlorine or something else.

These double bonds are reactive, so one can break while the other remains stable, in this way, it is possible to create long chains if ethylene (or vinyl chloride) is kept at the right temperature and pressure for a sufficient time.

Molecules can become much more complicated, with branching and/or more than one monomer, and some extrudable plastics, such as PET, PC and nylon, are different, but still follow the same idea. Small molecules join together to form large, long ones.

The in-depth analysis of the ideas on basic chemistry, mentioned here, can be coupled with a knowledge of dynamic flows in plastics machines and the behavior of the plastic melt in the various means of conformation in the moulds.

Furthermore, a separate study concerns the technology of recycled plastic materials, which sees the need to an important knowledge concerning waste separation systems, grinding, washing, densification, drying, granulation, bagging and the use of the new raw material in the molding or extrusion or blow molding or thermoforming phases.

Automatic translation. We apologize for any inaccuracies. Original article in Italian