240 Book reviews

Polymer science dictionary, 2nd editionM. Alger.Chapman & Hall, London, 1997.pp. xii] 628, price £125.00.ISBN 0-412-60870-7

The fact that a reprint of the Ðrst (1989) edition was requiredin the following year is a testimony to the utility of this refer-ence book. This new edition is 18% longer. It has been com-pletely reset to improve the typography, italicising keywords.The text of entries which were in the Ðrst edition is generallyreprinted unaltered : the increase in length is attributable toadditional entries. There are 59 entries in the Ðrst eightcolumns of the Ðrst edition (A-acrylaldehyde) : ten additionalentries (AAS, ABFA, AboavÈWeare law, ABPBO, ACA,acetylene chromene-terminated resin, acetylene terminatedimide, acetylene terminated polyimide, acetyl number,Acralen) extend this to nine columns. Clearly this is a resourceto which any polymer chemist to whom these terms andacronyms are unfamiliar needs access ! Libraries which havethe Ðrst edition would be well advised to consider withdraw-ing it and replacing it by the new edition to keep their stockup-to-date.

Fifteen of these 69 entries also appear in the companionvolume from the same publisher WhelanÏs “Polymer Tech-nology DictionaryÏ (1994) (cf. Polym. Int. 34 (1994) 235). Theboundary between science and technology is di†use but,where there is overlap, that which merits extended treatmentin one dictionary is generally deÐned only brieÑy in the other.

Entries of trade names are identiÐed with their chemicalnames but without also giving their proprietorsÈthis wouldbe a useful addition.

A. S. Dunn

Polymer liquid crystals series 2 : rheology and processing ofliquid crystal polymersEdited by D. Acierno and A. A. Collyer.Chapman & Hall, London, 1996.pp. xiii] 317, price £75.00.ISBN 0-412-59640-7

Liquid crystal polymers (LCPs) exhibit many unusual proper-ties which may be advantageously exploited in the processingof products made from them and from their blends with iso-tropic polymers. This volume from the Polymer L iquid Crys-tals series examines the distinctive Ñow behaviour of LCPsand their blends, and the models which have been put forwardto account for it. The book is divided into nine chapters, com-mencing with an introductory review of LCPs, which is clearand concise and provides a useful guide to the terminologyused. The second chapter, “Theoretical aspects of the Ñow ofliquid crystal polymersÏ, discusses the more complex pheno-mena associated with these materials, proceeding to “Hamilto-nian modelling of liquid crystal polymers and blendsÏ. The

latter chapter is replete with complex equations and presents aparticularly challenging read. The next three contributionsdeal with practical aspects of the Ñow of LCPs, Ðlled LCPsand LCP blends with isotropic polymers, and precede thechapter devoted to “Processing of liquid crystal polymersand blendsÏ. The book concludes with two chapters onlyotropic LCPs, “Time-dependent e†ects in lyotropic systemsÏand “Processing and properties of rigid rod polymersand their molecular compositesÏ.

A total of 639 literature references are cited, the most recentfrom 1994. The coverage of a diverse topic is logical, well bal-anced and generally clear. The presentation of the volume isexcellent. Whilst it is not a bargain, it may be recommendedto those interested in this area.

M. D. Purbrick

Resins for coatings : chemistry, properties and applicationsEdited by D. Stoye and W. Freitag.Hanser Publishers, Munich, 1996.pp. xvii] 458, price DM248.00.ISBN 3-446-18489-9

There have been many volumes published in recent years oncoatings and their raw materials. Here we have an editedvolume, with 11 chapters, subdivided into sections, written byvarious authors, often in conjunction. Unusually this is abook in English, but, obviously written by German authors.

The Ðrst Ðve chapters, carefully divided into many sectionsand sub-sections describe the fundamental chemistry of resins,“processing statesÏ, which includes Ðlm formation from latexes,and a short chapter on the principles of application. Theintroductory chapter includes a number of almost self-contradictory deÐnitions of “resinÏ from DIN and BS speciÐ-cations. The second chapter describes the fundamentaladdition and condensation reactions in summary form.

Chapter 6 on polycondensates includes sub-sections on satu-rated and unsaturated polyester resins, alkyd, amino resins, asurprisingly long section on phenoplasts, and ketone and alde-hyde resins. Polyadducts covers both polyisocyanate resins,and epoxides, described reasonably thoroughly.

Perhaps addition polymers deserves more than 50 pages,with special reference to emulsion polymerisation, which onlytakes up 2É5 pages. However this section has 305 references.

Later chapters describe resins such as silicones, cellulosederivatives, and a number of miscellaneous resins, followed bya section on additives, including pigment dispersion, cellulosederivatives and the new associative thickeners. The Ðnalchapter on analysis includes various chromatographicmethods, spectroscopic methods, including NMR and Fouriertransform spectroscopy. In general, this well-produced volumeis written in a condensed fashion with a certain amount ofmathematical derivations in earlier chapters.

H. Warson

POLYMER INTERNATIONAL VOL. 45, NO. 2, 1998