Current understanding of polishing wear involves a combination of abrasive, plastic flow, and tribochemical wear. This article explains these mechanisms and the correlation between them. Some explanations about practical polishing wear control, applications, and future prospects are also given. This article discusses the influence of size and number of wear particles on polishing at three abrasive wear modes. These include cutting, wedge forming, and plowing. The article concludes with information on applications and prospects of polishing wear control.

This article is an atlas of fractographs that helps in understanding the causes and mechanisms of fracture of polymers, including polycarbonate, polyethylene, and polyimide, and in identifying and interpreting the morphology of fracture surfaces. The fractographs illustrate the quasi-brittle fatigue crack propagation, brittle and ductile fracture, crack-growth mechanisms, tearing, fibrillation, and fatigue striations of these surfaces.

This article discusses postconsumer plastics recyclate quantities, the classification of plastics recycling into primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary categories, and how the life cycle of plastics is affected by recycling. The recycling processes of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which accounts for the largest percentage of plastic recycling, high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastics, the other large-volume plastic recyclate, as well as vinyl resins and polycarbonate resins are described. The life cycle of plastics has four phases: poly formation, part fabrication, product service, and disposal. Landfilling is still the primary method of final disposal, and incineration is another option, but recycling has become a viable alternative. The article presents a comparison between secondary and tertiary recycling.

The article commences with an overview of short-term and long-term mechanical properties of polymeric materials. It discusses plasticization, solvation, and swelling in rubber products. The article further describes environmental stress cracking and degradation of polymers. It illustrates how surface degradation of a plain strain tension specimen alters the ductile brittle transition in polyethylene creep rupture. The article concludes with information on the effects of temperature on polymer performance.

This article provides a summary of biocompatibility or biological response of metals, ceramics, and polymers used in medical implant, along with their clinical issues. The polymers include ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene, nonresorbable polymer, and resorbable polymers.

Total joint replacement in orthopedic surgery can be achieved by excision, interposition, and replacement arthroplasty. This article details the most common materials used in total replacement synovial joints, such as metals, ceramics, and ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE). The principal physical properties and tribological characteristics of these materials are summarized. The article discusses the pin-on-disk experiments and pin-on-plate experiments for determining friction and wear characteristics. It details the use of various types of joint simulators, such as hip joint simulators and knee joint simulators, to evaluate the performance of engineering tribological components in machine simulators. The article describes in vivo assessment of total joint replacement performance.

Advanced thermoplastics are stiff, moldable plastics that compete with traditional engineering thermoplastics and thermosets owing to their good tensile, compressive, impact, and shear strength, electrical properties, and corrosion resistance. This article discusses commercial forms, family characteristics, properties and applications of the following advanced thermoplastics: homopolymer and copolymer acetals, fluoropolymers, ionomers, polyamides, polyamide-imides, polyarylates, polyketones, polyaryl sulfones, polybutylene terephthalates, polycarbonates, polyether-imides, polyether sulfones, polyethylene terephthalates, thermoplastic polyimides, liquid crystal polymers, polyphenylene ether blends, polyphenylene sulfides, and polysulfones.

This article discusses the family characteristics, commercial forms, applications, resin grades, and mechanical and physical properties of traditional engineering thermoplastics in their neat (unmodified) form and as compounds and composites, namely, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrenes, acrylics, high-density polyethylenes, reinforced polypropylenes, high-impact polystyrenes, polyvinyl chloride, styrene-acrylonitriles, and styrene-maleic anhydrides.

This article discusses the most fundamental building-block level, atomic level, molecular considerations, intermolecular structures, and supermolecular issues. It contains a table that lists the structures and properties of selected commodity and engineering plastics. An explanation of important thermal and mechanical properties of solid engineering plastics and molten engineering plastics is provided. The article describes the effects of structure on thermal and mechanical properties. It discusses the chemical, optical, and electrical properties of engineering plastics and commodity plastics. The article outlines the most common plastics manufacturing processes. The factors that must be considered when processing engineering thermoplastics are discussed. These include melt viscosity and melt strength; crystallization; orientation, die swell, shrinkage, and molded-in stress; polymer degradation; and polymer blends.

This article tabulates materials that are known to have been used in orthopaedic and/or cardiovascular medical devices. The materials are grouped as metals, ceramics and glasses, and synthetic polymers in order. These tables were compiled from the Medical Materials Database which is a product of ASM International and Granta Design available by license online and as an in-house version. The material usage was gleaned from over 24,000 U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), Center for Devices and Radiological Health, Premarket notifications (510k), and USFDA Premarket Approvals, and other device records that are a part of this database. The database includes other material categories as well. The usage of materials in predicate devices is an efficient tool in the material selection process aiming for regulatory approval.

This article is a compilation of abbreviations, symbols, and tradenames for terms related to the properties, selection, processing, and applications of the most widely used nonmetallic engineering materials.

The sheet alloys 6009 and 6010 fill the need for materials that would be formed in the soft T4 temper and age harden during the automotive paint-bake cycle. This datasheet provides information on key alloy metallurgy, processing effects on physical and mechanical properties, and fabrication characteristics of these 6xxx series alloys.

This article describes the coating materials, surface-preparation requirements, and application techniques used to protect underground pipelines. It provides a valuable insight into the types of polymer-based coatings that are both cost-effective and widely accepted in the pipeline industry.

Polymers offer a wide range of choices for medical applications because of their versatility in properties and processing. This article provides an overview of polymeric materials and the characteristics that make them a unique class of materials. It describes the ways to classify polymers, including the polymerization method, how the material deforms, or molecular origin or stability. The article contains tables that list common medical polymers used in medical devices. It describes the medical polymer selection criteria and regulatory aspects of materials selection failure analysis and prevention. Failure analysis and prevention processes to determine the root cause of failures that arise at different stages of the product life cycle are reviewed. The article describes the mechanisms of plastic product failure analysis. It discusses the trends in the use of medical polymers, such as high-performance polymers for implants, tissue engineering, and bioresorbable polymers.

Additives for plastics and elastomers are used to increase the ease of processing and to improve the properties of the final product. Additives improve processing characteristics by increasing lubricity and by stabilizing the polymer. Additives that improve properties include those that decrease static charge development and microbial activity and those that improve flame retardation characteristics, color, light stability, impact resistance, density and mechanical properties. This article focuses on the additives for polymers and elastomers that are used for improving processing--blowing agents, mold-release agents, lubricants, plasticizers, and heat stabilizers--and for improving properties antimicrobials, antioxidants, antistatic agents, colorants, fillers and fiber reinforcements, flame retardants, impact modifiers, light stabilizers, plasticizers, and heat stabilizers. Furthermore, it discusses the method for addition of these additives and the problems faced during compounding.

This article is a collection of tables that present information on the physical properties of periodic table elements, and maximum service temperatures, dielectric constants and typical dielectric properties of selected nonmetallic materials.

This article is a comprehensive collection of engineering tables providing information on the mechanical properties of and the techniques for processing and characterizing polymeric materials, such as thermosets, thermoset-matrix unidirectional advanced composites, and unreinforced and carbon-and glass-reinforced engineering thermoplastics. Values are also provided for chemical resistance ratings for selected plastics and metals, and hardness of selected elastomers.

Polymers and polymer composites have become attractive for tribological applications due to their specific material properties. This article begins by discussing the fundamentals of polymer friction and wear. It summarizes the main polymer materials used in tribological applications. The article explains the effects of load, sliding velocity, and temperature on the friction coefficient. It describes three types of wear modes, namely, abrasive, adhesion, and fatigue. The article discusses the frictional behavior of polymer composites and polymer coatings. It concludes by providing information on tribotesting of polymers and polymer composites.