From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Plastic (disambiguation).
"Age of Plastics" redirects here. For the album by The Buggles, see The Age of Plastic.
Household items made of various types of plastic
IUPAC definition
Generic term used in the case of polymeric material that may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce costs.
Note 1: The use of this term instead of polymer is a source of confusion and thus is not recommended.
Note 2: This term is used in polymer engineering for materials often compounded that can be processed by flow.[1]
Plastic is material consisting of any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic compounds that are malleable and so can be molded into solid objects.
Plasticity is the general property of all materials which can deform irreversibly without breaking but, in the class of moldable polymers, this occurs to such a degree that their actual name derives from this ability.
Plastics are typically organic polymers of high molecular mass, but they often contain other substances. They are usually synthetic, most commonly derived from petrochemicals, but many are made from renewable materials such as polylactic acid from corn or cellulosics from cotton linters
