Polymer Innovation Blog

Webinar Date: Tuesday December 16, 2025 Webinar Time: 1:00 PM EST Registration Link: https://ctherm.com/resources/webinars/advanced-polymer-composites-electronics-packaging/  Abstract: Composites using advanced polymers and reinforcements are a key enabler in the field of electronics packaging. ... [Click to Continue...]

On Veterans Day  Tuesday November 11, 2025 , we honor all those who served our country past and present.  I'd like to take this moment to honor my late father, Captain Douglas E. Gotro, US Army, Korean War veteran. My mother was presented the flag at my dad's military funeral.  When she ... [Click to Continue...]

This post will further explore multiple studies that have demonstrated the universal nature of the Tg-conversion relationship.  The seminal paper by Professor John Gillham and his Ph.D. students was published in 1990 that very clearly articulated the concept of how the fractional conversion impacts ... [Click to Continue...]

While working on these posts and my book on “Thermosets,” I was going back through the literature related to the relationship of Tg and conversion and found a couple of book chapters I wrote back in 1990 [1 ,2].    As discussed in the previous two posts, in the late 1980’s there was considerable ... [Click to Continue...]

The first post in this series showed the importance of the glass transition temperature (Tg) versus fractional conversion to correlate the development of Tg as a function of thermoset curing.  One relatively easy and straightforward method to build the Tg-conversion plot is to use differential ... [Click to Continue...]

Over the years it has become apparent that an often mis-understood concept is how the fractional conversion (or percent conversion) plays a large role in the development of the glass transition temperature (Tg) during curing.  The question is why?  For many reasons it is important to keep current on ... [Click to Continue...]

The next few posts will discuss other types of thermosetting polymers including vinyl esters, unsaturated polyesters, and polyurethanes. Vinyl esters are a class of thermosetting polymers that have properties intermediate between unsaturated polyester and epoxy. Vinyl esters are cured in a ... [Click to Continue...]