Curing (chemistry)Curing is a chemical process employed in polymer chemistry and process engineering that produces the toughening or hardening of a polymer material by cross-linking of polymer chains. Even if it is strongly associated with the production of thermosetting polymers, the term "curing" can be used for all the processes where a solid product is obtained from a liquid solution, such as with PVC plastisols. During the curing process, single monomers and oligomers, mixed with or without a curing agent, react to form a tridimensional polymeric network.
Liquidevignette|L'eau est une substance abondante sur la surface terrestre, se manifestant notamment sous forme de liquide. vignette|Diagramme montrant comment sont configurés les molécules et les atomes pour les différents états de la matière.
Polyfluorure de vinylePolyvinyl fluoride (PVF) or –(CH2CHF)n– is a polymer material mainly used in the flammability-lowering coatings of airplane interiors and photovoltaic module backsheets. It is also used in raincoats and metal sheeting. Polyvinyl fluoride is a thermoplastic fluoropolymer with a repeating vinyl fluoride unit, and it is structurally very similar to polyvinyl chloride. PVF has low permeability for vapors, burns very slowly, and has excellent resistance to weathering and staining.
Autoclavevignette|Rodwell Sapphire Autoclave, un exemplaire d'autoclave moderne avec cuve carrée et porte automatique coulissante. À l'origine, un autoclave est un récipient dont le couvercle est glissé à l'intérieur de l'enveloppe du récipient et qui se ferme hermétiquement sous l'effet de la pression intérieure de la vapeur. Il permet de dépasser la pression atmosphérique et donc de porter de l'eau liquide au-delà de . Par la suite, d'autres types de récipients permettant cette action ont pris ce nom, bien que leur couvercle soit seulement apposé sur l'ouverture et maintenu en place par divers dispositifs.
CocrystalIn materials science (specifically crystallography), cocrystals are "solids that are crystalline, single-phase materials composed of two or more different molecular or ionic compounds generally in a stoichiometric ratio which are neither solvates nor simple salts." A broader definition is that cocrystals "consist of two or more components that form a unique crystalline structure having unique properties." Several subclassifications of cocrystals exist.
