Polymers: Basic Principles
Polymers represent the largest class of materials used in medicine. They have a range of unique properties making them useful in biomaterial applications, including orthopedics, dental, hard and soft tissue replacements, drug delivery, and cardiovascular devices. This chapter explains the basic principles of polymer science, illustrates how polymer materials can be specifically designed to fill needs in the biomaterials field, and provides examples of how this class of materials is currently used in medical applications. Structure–property relationships, including molecular architecture, molecular mass, and chemical composition related to the physical and chemical properties of the macroscopic material, are included. A biomaterials scientist aware of structure–property relationships can engineer a polymer system for a specific need.
