Functional Polymers and its Perspective

Abstract

Functional Polymers include polymers of both high performance and high functionality. They had attracted special attention and had been widely studied since 1968, when the first petroleum crisis had occured.In order to develop functionality, the polymers have to be processed by special method, and to be applied in a suitable system. Functional polymers will be useful for the development of high technology in future.In this paper, space technology, aircraft and car technology, new field of chemical engineering, communication and information technology, technology of energy and med-ical engineering are taken up as the important high technology area, and contribution of functional polymers to the development of these new fields are described. As the examples of functional polymers which contribute to the development of space technol-ogy and aircraft and car technology, new development of carbon fiber and three new polymer processing methods are shown.In the field of new chemical engineering, there are two important chemical proc-esses, i. e, highly efficient reaction process and separation and purification process for hard separable materials. In this paper, carbon sieve and polymers which memorize the molecular structure and catch these materials are shown.Functional polymers which contribute to the development of communication and information technology, are seen especially in the field of optoelectronic technology. Among them, organic optical fiber and registration material of optoelectric informa-tion is shown.In the field of energy, renewable energy is considered important replacing fossil fuel such as coal and petroleum. The most important technology for renewable energy is how to get energetic material such as ethanol at low cost, In this paper, develop-ment of fermentation process and separation process of ethanol from water by using membrane is shown.Development of medical engineering is much affected by functional polymers. As the examples, artificial kidney, artificial liver, artificial heart, diagnosis by bio-sensor, bio-separator and affinity therapy are described.