Practical challenges for the implementation of polymers into highly engineered systems - an industrial perspective

Theoretical and experimental physics has developed to a point which enables the design of high precision devices utilizing a variety of materials. Because of the broad industrial success achieved with polymeric systems, the chemistry of these materials is well understood, and many materials have been scaled up and are produced in exceedingly large quantities. Therefore, it is often assumed that once an application is successfully demonstrated a device or product can easily be commercialized utilizing available polymers, and that these polymers will be cost effective. While this assumption can be true in some cases, in other cases it is wrong, not because the physics is incorrect, but because of the practical challenges faced making the desired materials in an industrial setting. Several experimentally successful application examples utilizing polymeric materials will be examined to identify the challenges faced when using industrially produced materials. By keeping these issues in mind and planning for them, it may be possible to accellerate the development of commercial products from academic research and it may also lead to further refinement of theory to deal with complexities introduced when materials are produced at industrially relevant scales.