{"id":5546,"date":"2016-12-02T08:20:46","date_gmt":"2016-12-02T14:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ulprospector.com\/knowledge\/?p=5546"},"modified":"2018-02-09T14:06:36","modified_gmt":"2018-02-09T20:06:36","slug":"pe-understanding-polyesters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/5546\/pe-understanding-polyesters\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding Polyesters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/plastics.ulprospector.com\/generics\/37\/polyester\" target=\"_blank\">polyester polymer<\/a> contains the ester functional group in their main chain. The backbones are formed by the \u201cesterification condensation of polyfunctional alcohols and acids<sup>1<\/sup>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There are several reasons polyester is important:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The relatively easy accessible raw materials: Purified terephthalic acid (PTA) or Dimethylterephthalate (DMT) and Mono-ethylene glycol (MEG).<\/li>\n<li>The simple chemical process of polyester synthesis is very well understood and described<\/li>\n<li>The possibility to produce PET in a closed loop at low emissions to the environment<\/li>\n<li>The outstanding mechanical and chemical properties of polyester<\/li>\n<li>The recyclability<\/li>\n<li>The wide variety of intermediate and final products made of polyester.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As fibers, polyester is a term often defined as \u201clong-chain polymers chemically composed of at least 85 percent by weight of an ester and a dihydric alcohol and a terephthalic acid\u201d. In other words, it means the linking of several esters within the fibers. Reaction of alcohol with carboxylic acid results in the formation of esters.<sup>2<\/sup><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5550\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 300px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5550\" src=\"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/media\/2016\/11\/51267772_m-300x172.jpg\" alt=\"Mylar balloon, just one application of polyester plastics. Learn more about polyesters in the Prospector Knowledge Center.\" width=\"300\" height=\"172\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/51267772_m-300x172.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/51267772_m-768x440.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/51267772_m.jpg 914w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Mylar balloon &#8211; Copyright: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.123rf.com\/profile_frenky362\">frenky362 \/ 123RF Stock Photo<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Polyesters include naturally occurring chemicals, such as in the cutin of plant cuticles, as well as synthetics through step-growth polymerization such as polybutyrate. Polybutyrate (polybutyrate adipate terephthalate, or PBAT) is a biodegradable random copolymer, specifically a copolyester of adipic acid, 1,4-butanediol and dimethyl terephthalate. It is generally marketed as a fully biodegradable alternative to low-density polyethylene (LDPE), having many similar properties including flexibility and resilience, allowing it to be used for similar uses such as plastic bags. Most synthetic polyesters are not biodegradable. Many people refer to polyester as a specific material; most commonly called polyethylene terephthalate (PET).<\/p>\n<p>Depending on the chemical structure, polyester can be a <a href=\"https:\/\/plastics.ulprospector.com\/generics\/53\/thermoplastic-elastomer-tpe\" target=\"_blank\">thermoplastic<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/plastics.ulprospector.com\/generics\/55\/thermoset-ts\" target=\"_blank\">thermoset<\/a>. There are also polyester resins cured by hardeners; however, the most common polyesters are thermoplastics.<\/p>\n<p>Polyesters are used to make bottles (PET), films (e.g. <a href=\"https:\/\/plastics.ulprospector.com\/materials\/746\/mylar\" target=\"_blank\">Mylar<sup>\u00ae<\/sup><\/a>), tarpaulin, canoes, liquid crystal displays, holograms, filters, dielectric film for capacitors, film insulation for wire and insulating tapes. Polyesters are widely used as a finish on high-quality wood products such as pianos, guitars and vehicle\/yacht interiors. Thixotropicity, a rather unique, time-dependent shear thinning property of polyesters3, is leveraged in spray-applications for use on open-grain timbers, since they can quickly fill wood grain and pores, with a high-build film thickness per coat.<\/p>\n<p>Most of the backsheets of solar panels are constructed of polyester film, although some of these are slowly being replaced by fluoropolymers.<\/p>\n<h4>Synthesis<\/h4>\n<p>There are multiple chemical reactions to produce polyesters, such as:<\/p>\n<h5>Polycondensation<\/h5>\n<p>Synthesis of polyesters is generally achieved by a polycondensation reaction. The general equation for the reaction of a diol with a diacid is:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">(n+1) R(OH)<sub>2<\/sub> + n R\u00b4(COOH)<sub>2<\/sub> \u2192 HO[ROOCR\u00b4COO]<sub>n<\/sub>ROH + 2n H<sub>2<\/sub>O<\/p>\n<h5>Azeotrope esterification<\/h5>\n<p>In this method, an alcohol and a carboxylic acid react to form a carboxylic ester. To produce a polymer, the water formed by the reaction must be continually removed by azeotrope distillation.<\/p>\n<h5>Alcoholic transesterification<\/h5>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5547\" src=\"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/media\/2016\/11\/polyesters-Picture2.png\" alt=\"Chemical representation of Alcoholic transesterification, in the process of producing polyesters. Learn more about polyesters in the Prospector Knowledge Center.\" width=\"781\" height=\"161\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/polyesters-Picture2.png 781w, https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/polyesters-Picture2-300x62.png 300w, https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/polyesters-Picture2-768x158.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 781px) 100vw, 781px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Transesterification is a process wherein an alcohol-terminated oligomer and an ester-terminated oligomer condense to form an ester linkage, with loss of an alcohol. R and R&#8217; are the two oligomer chains, R&#8221; is a sacrificial unit such as a methyl group.<\/p>\n<p>Polyester polyols are used in the manufacture of powder coating resins as well as epoxy polyester hybrid powder coatings. The former provides good mechanical properties, corrosion resistance and overbake stability, while the hybrid powder coatings are especially useful in appliance, shelving, office furniture, fixtures and general industrial applications. Polyesters are by far the dominant chemistry on powder coatings. Increasing the aromatic parts of polyesters increases their glass transition temperature (Tg), melting temperature, thermal stability, chemical stability and solvent resistance.<\/p>\n<p>Unsaturated polyesters are thermosetting resins. They are generally copolymers prepared by polymerizing one or more diol with saturated and unsaturated dicarboxylic acids (maleic acid, fumaric acid, etc.) or their anhydrides. The double bond of unsaturated polyesters reacts with a vinyl monomer, resulting in a 3-D cross-linked structure. This structure acts as a thermoset. The exothermic cross-linking reaction is initiated through a catalyst, usually an organic peroxide such as benzoyl peroxide. They are mostly used in reinforced plastics. These are the most widely used and economical family of resins.<\/p>\n<p>Saturated polyesters refer to that family of polyesters in which the polyester backbones are saturated. They are thus not as reactive as unsaturated polyesters. They consist of low molecular weight liquids used as plasticizers, and as reactants in forming urethane polymers, and linear, high molecular weight thermoplastics such as polyethylene terephthalate (dacron and Mylar). Usual reactants for the saturated polyesters are a glycol and an acid or anhydride.<\/p>\n<p>Polyester fiber is formed through an extruder (spinnerette) to produce very fine threads of PET. Polyester clothing is silky in feel, although it can cause skin irritation for some people. Some polyester is blended with other fabrics to minimize this.<\/p>\n<h4>References:<\/h4>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/plastics.ulprospector.com\/generics\/37\/polyester\">Polyester Plastic<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.whatispolyester.com\" target=\"_blank\">WhatIsPolyester.com<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Thixotropy\" target=\"_blank\">Thixitropy Wikipedia page<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A polyester polymer contains the ester functional group in their main chain. The backbones are formed by the \u201cesterification condensation of polyfunctional alcohols and acids1.\u201d There are several reasons polyester is important: The relatively easy accessible raw materials: Purified terephthalic &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/5546\/pe-understanding-polyesters\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":5550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30,21],"tags":[214,219,232,275],"ppma_author":[1242],"class_list":{"0":"post-5546","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-materials","8":"category-plastics-2","9":"tag-plastics","10":"tag-category-overview","11":"tag-polyesters","12":"tag-materials","13":"entry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- 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and Principal Consultant at M&amp;M Hirsch &amp; Associates from 2011 to present. In his career, he has formulated architectural, industrial, military and specialty coatings. He has also worked with and formulated adhesives, inks, and construction products and in general is a material science generalist. He has a keen interest in Sustainable and Bio-based paints, inks, adhesives and elastomers. He was a Developmental Scientist in the Advanced Materials group at Luna Labs 2004-2008, formulating military coatings and adhesives. Previously, he was at Dow Chemical (1999-2004) as the applications and development manager in Core R&amp;D in the Coatings &amp; Functional Polymers Group. He also managed the TS&amp;D group for coatings while at Dow Chemical (1995-99) and held positions at Rhodia (Laboratory Manager, Latex &amp; Specialty Polymers (1989-95)) and was the Development Chemist, exterior latex paints at Benjamin Moore &amp; Co. (1979-89). 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Copyright: frenky362 \/ 123RF Stock Photo"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/5546\/pe-understanding-polyesters\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Understanding Polyesters"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/","name":"Prospector Knowledge Center","description":"Welcome to the blog for UL Prospector, the most comprehensive raw material search engine for product developers.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fb78ed0595f13dfe0e9db2b27d5c7ad8","name":"Marc Hirsch","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/IMG_1016-scaled.jpg059914e4322a932a69ce951678608f9c","url":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/IMG_1016-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/IMG_1016-scaled.jpg","caption":"Marc Hirsch"},"description":"Mr. Hirsch is a Senior Development Scientist and Principal Consultant at M&amp;M Hirsch &amp; Associates from 2011 to present. In his career, he has formulated architectural, industrial, military and specialty coatings. He has also worked with and formulated adhesives, inks, and construction products and in general is a material science generalist. He has a keen interest in Sustainable and Bio-based paints, inks, adhesives and elastomers. He was a Developmental Scientist in the Advanced Materials group at Luna Labs 2004-2008, formulating military coatings and adhesives. Previously, he was at Dow Chemical (1999-2004) as the applications and development manager in Core R&amp;D in the Coatings &amp; Functional Polymers Group. He also managed the TS&amp;D group for coatings while at Dow Chemical (1995-99) and held positions at Rhodia (Laboratory Manager, Latex &amp; Specialty Polymers (1989-95)) and was the Development Chemist, exterior latex paints at Benjamin Moore &amp; Co. (1979-89). Mr. Hirsch has served in a consultancy capacity as a Director with the ChemQuest group, (chemquest.com) June 2021-March 2025 at OmniTech (omnitechintl.com) (2015-2022) for soy-based adhesives and coatings, Daikin America (daikin-america.com) (2011-2015) fluoropolymers and materials, and also with organizations that provide formal mentoring (TORCH 2018-present), coaching and leadership training, as well as the facilitation of problem-solving teams. He has several granted patents, many patent applications and internal disclosures for trade secrets. Connect with Marc on LinkedIn...","sameAs":["https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/marchirsch\/"],"url":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/author\/marc-hirsch\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":1242,"user_id":26,"is_guest":0,"slug":"marc-hirsch","display_name":"Marc Hirsch","avatar_url":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/IMG_1016-scaled.jpg","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5546"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=5546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}