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02/8/2008 -
Introduction to Polymer Chemistry (2007)
by Charles E. Carraher, Jr.
ISBN 0-8493-7047-7. Taylor & Francis Group, Boca Raton, Florida. 2007. Hardcover. 503 pages. $79.95.
Charraher wrote another winner. Charles E. Carraher, Jr., is a noted polymer researcher and prolific and able author. Introduction to Polymer Chemistry is the title of his latest work. The book will be called Polymers for the rest of this review. Polymers lives up to its name in the sense that the book does not assume that the reader has much knowledge of polymers. The book is understandable for someone with a basic of knowledge of organic chemistry. Unlike many science documents Polymers does not involve complex lines of reasoning or presume that the reader has the same sophisticated background as the author.
Polymers is one of many books on the subject of polymers. For example, Hans-Georg Elias wrote An Introduction to Polymer Science published by VCH. While the books are both about polymers and touch on some of the same areas, the field of polymers is so broad that no one book can cover the whole subject. Both books discuss polymer structure, molecular weights of polymers, ionic reactions, free radical chain reactions, copolymerization, biological polymers, fibers, and polymer auxiliaries. These topics are significant, and therefore overlap in subject coverage is inevitable. However, each book handles the subjects differently, so for the polymer student both books are worth reading. Polymers is more readable than the Elias book. Elias tends to get involved and the reader may get bogged down in some involved calculations.
Paul J. Flory wrote Principles of Polymer Chemistry published by the University of Cornell which, in contrast to the book Polymers, is more advanced text and considerably less readable. Polymers is nicely divided into sections, which makes the work more readable than Flory’s older approach of unbroken page after page of text. The drafting and drawings in Polymers are more modern than in the Flory work, which was first published in 1953. One nice touch of the Flory book is that he started the book with an historical introduction. Polymer science has certainly advanced as was shown. Illustrating these advances may well be one reason Carraher wrote his book. Spectroscopy is one area where advances in the state of the art were made and described by Carraher. He gives a concise description of advanced analytical techniques as they are used in polymer science. Techniques such as tapping mode atomic force microscopy, electrochemical microscopy, two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance, and photoacoustic infrared spectroscopy are examples of this. Carraher deserves praise for bringing these sophisticated techniques to the attention of students of polymers. Doc Carraher also deserves praise for his treatment of polymer technology. This can make the book more useful to industrial users. A lot of great interest occurs in industry and those who write about science would do well to keep up with developments in manufacturing relevant to their fields.
Carraher mentions a few websites in Polymers but considering the vast extent of the internet many more sites could be given. Polymers is well indexed and each chapter ends with a glossary, summary, exercises, and suggestions for further reading. One feature that would make Polymers useful for those interested in polymer selection would be a table comparing the properties of different polymers including costs, mechanical, spectroscopic, and thermal properties. Such information is not easy to get in one source. In other words, a polymer database would be valuable in Polymers. All told, Polymers is a superb book for someone with a background in undergraduate chemistry.
For more on Introduction to Polymer Chemistry, visit the Taylor & Francis Group web site. |
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