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In materials science
Materials science is an interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries.
The intellectual origins of materials sci ...
, a thermosetting polymer, often called a thermoset, is a polymer
A polymer () is a chemical substance, substance or material that consists of very large molecules, or macromolecules, that are constituted by many repeat unit, repeating subunits derived from one or more species of monomers. Due to their br ...
that is obtained by irreversibly hardening (" curing") a soft solid or viscous liquid prepolymer
In polymer chemistry, the term prepolymer or pre-polymer, refers to a monomer or system of monomers that have been reacted to an intermediate-molecular mass state. This material is capable of further polymerization by reactive groups to a fully c ...
(resin
A resin is a solid or highly viscous liquid that can be converted into a polymer. Resins may be biological or synthetic in origin, but are typically harvested from plants. Resins are mixtures of organic compounds, predominantly terpenes. Commo ...
). Curing is induced by heat or suitable radiation
In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or a material medium. This includes:
* ''electromagnetic radiation'' consisting of photons, such as radio waves, microwaves, infr ...
and may be promoted by high pressure or mixing with a catalyst
Catalysis () is the increase in rate of a chemical reaction due to an added substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed by the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recycles quick ...
. Heat is not necessarily applied externally, and is often generated by the reaction of the resin with a curing agent (''catalyst'', ''hardener
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