viii Preface
Interestingly, plasticizers, which now account for 31% of the additives
market, will decrease to less than 25% in the 1980s. However, the volume of
fillers will increase from 44% in 1978 to 48% in the 1980s. It is reasonable
to expect that the total volume of additives will increase from 3.0 million
tons in 1978 to 8.5 million tons in 1990.
The four million tons of fillers and one million tons of reinforcements
used by the plastics industry in 1980 will account for the bulk of the additives
market. However, all other additives are now produced in sizable
volume and these will be major chemical products in the 1980s.
Obviously, the state-of-the-art reports in this volume and the researchoriented
reports in Volume 2 are of vital interest to those who are closely
associated with the plastics industry. More important, since additives are
essential ingredients of almost all plastics, the information in these
reports should be of interest to all who are concerned with the design,
fabrication, and use of plastics.
The authors of these chapters join me in the hope that this treatise will
be of technical interest and value. The assistance of Mrs. Rick E. Palmer
in the preparation of this work is gratefully acknowledged by the editor
and contributors.