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Published in:
2018 | OriginalPaper | Chapter
31. Polyethylene
Author : Ian Baker
Published in: Fifty Materials That Make the World
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
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Abstract
Polyethylene, also called by its International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) systematic name polyethene, is commonly known as polythene. It is a thermoplastic polymer meaning that it can be melted (at 120–180 °C) so that it flows and can be cooled to the solid state repeatedly. The name polyethylene is derived from the fact that the molecule consists of many (poly) “mers” or repeat units of the gaseous molecule ethylene. It is the simplest possible carbon-based polymer consisting only of a backbone of carbon atoms with hydrogen atoms attached.