Polymers and Plastics

Polymers comprise a vast class of materials built from repeating molecular chains. Thermoplastics can be melted and reshaped, thermosets form covalently cross-linked networks that retain rigidity under heat, and elastomers combine elasticity with durability. Commodity plastics such as polyethylene, polypropylene and poly(vinyl chloride) dominate packaging, consumer goods and construction, while engineering plastics including polyamides, polycarbonates and poly(arylether-ether-ketone) serve in automotive, electronics and aerospace. Natural polymers such as cellulose and rubber remain crucial for textiles and composite reinforcements. By adjusting architectures—from linear to branched, block or graft copolymers, to hyperbranched and network structures—designers can tune mechanical strength, toughness, thermal stability, electrical insulation or conductivity and chemical resistance. Nanocomposite strategies, incorporating fillers from silica and graphene to biochar, further expand performance. Efforts in recycling, devulcanisation and bio-based feedstocks seek to address environmental challenges. Across scales from additive manufacturing to coatings and biomedical devices, polymers shape modern industry and everyday life.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have advanced the reinforcement of elastomeric matrices with surface-functionalised inorganic nanosheets. In nitrile rubber, sol–gel synthesised vinyl-modified silica nanoparticles achieved improved dispersion and interfacial bonding under low-VOC coupling, raising dynamic mechanical moduli by over 30% and sustaining tensile strength while suppressing heat build-up in tyre compounds. Long-term field exposure of high-temperature-vulcanised silicone rubber sheds revealed that ageing under combined electrical and salt-fog stress damages hydrophobic side-chains and fractally roughens surfaces. This degradation lowers flashover voltage by around 15% and accelerates moisture uptake, underscoring the need for targeted filler chemistries and surface treatments to maintain reliability of high-voltage insulators.

Research from all publishers

New insights into natural rubber fracture resistance link local strain fields to strain-induced crystallisation at crack tips. Micro-beam wide-angle X-ray diffraction mapped crystallinity orientation, demonstrating that the principal tensile strain component governs crystalline domain alignment and crack arrest. On the sustainability front, biochar derived from agricultural by-products has emerged as a partial substitute for carbon black in rubber composites; optimisation of feedstock and pyrolysis variables yields high-surface-area biochar that, when blended at 10% by weight, maintains 85% of tensile modulus while reducing CO₂ emissions. Surveys of green tyre materials also show that renewable cord fabrics and bio-based rubbers can meet industry performance criteria, with eco-additives and devulcanisation routes now key to cutting petroleum dependency in global supply chains.

Polymers and Plastics publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in polymers and plastics across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Thermoplastics: Polymers that soften reversibly upon heating, allowing repeated melting and moulding without chemical cross-linking.

Thermosets: Polymers cured into three-dimensional networks that maintain shape and mechanical integrity under heat.

Elastomers: Cross-linked polymers exhibiting large reversible deformations under stress and rapid shape recovery.

Block copolymer: A macromolecule in which two or more homopolymer segments are covalently bonded in discrete blocks, enabling phase-separated nanostructures.

Strain-induced crystallisation: The formation of ordered crystalline regions in an elastomer under mechanical deformation, improving crack resistance.

Nanosheet: A two-dimensional platelet-like particle, such as silica or graphene oxide, used to reinforce polymers.

Biochar: A carbon-rich solid produced by pyrolysis of biomass, investigated as a sustainable reinforcing filler in rubber composites.

References

1. Synthesis of vinyl-based silica nanoparticles by sol–gel method and their influences on network microstructure and dynamic mechanical properties of nitrile rubber nanocomposites. Scientific Reports (2022).
2. Electrical Strength and Physicochemical Performances of HTV Silicone Rubber under Salt-Fog Environment with DC Energized. Polymers (2020).
3. Unraveling Non‐Uniform Strain‐Induced Crystallization Near a Crack Tip in Natural Rubber. Advanced Science (2024).
4. Role and potential of biochar as a sustainable alternative reinforcing filler to carbon black in rubber composites. Biochar (2025).
5. Research progress on sustainability of key tire materials. SusMat (2023).
6. Recent advances in the devulcanization technologies of industrially relevant sulfur-vulcanized elastomers. Advanced Industrial and Engineering Polymer Research (2023).