Polymer Basics: Structure & Properties

By Xiang Zhang, Ph.D., Lucideon

Although polymers have been the most widely used material in the pharmaceutical and medical devices industry for many years, they are still often the root cause of many problems, such as unexpected product failure or yield deterioration. This is usually down to the complexity of polymeric materials. Chemical and physical structure can change at any stage - during manufacturing, post treatment (e.g. during sterilization), in storage, transportation or in use. The resulting changes in structure, which can range from the nano and micro up to millimetre scales, consequently affect the performance of the product. What’s more, product failures are often due to several co-existing factors. It is important, therefore, to understand the factors that can affect a polymer’s structure and, hence, its properties.

This paper will introduce the basic concepts regarding the structure and properties of polymeric materials. It will be of particular interest to engineers, technologists, scientists, technical managers and QA/QC professionals; anyone who is involved in developing new products or finding root causes of failures.