Acknowledgments

Most of my knowledge and experience in the

field offluoroelastomers was acquired during a nearly
forty-year career in elastomers research and development at DuPont and DuPont Dow Elastomers. I
spent about twenty-five years in fluoroelastomers
polymer development. Much ofthe technical information in this book is drawn from technical papers
and product literature published by DuPont and
DuPont Dow. I have drawn on knowledge obtained
during discussions and collaboration with many of
my former colleagues. As far as possible, I have tried
to attribute credit for their contributions to individuals in the presentation ofvarious topics in this book,
but undoubtedly have missed some, for which I
apologize.
I have been fortunate in my career to have participated in the development of fluoroelastomers to
take advantage of the bisphenol curing technology
introduced in the early 1970s; in later development
of specialty polymers for peroxide curing, and of
bisphenol-curable polymers with improved processing characteristics; and still later with base-resistant
fluoroelastomer compositions. All of this required
close collaboration with colleagues in research, market technical groups, polymer production, and sales,
along with advice from helpful customers. Many of
these developments were worldwide efforts, involving research and development in the U.S., production in the U.S. and Europe, and technical service in
the U.S., Europe, and Japan. It is impossible to list
all those who contributed, but I will mention a number of colleagues with whom I worked closely. Walter
W. Schmiegel has taught me much about curing
elastomers over the years, allowing more rational
design ofpolymers with good curing characteristics.
S. David Weaver, Albertus van Cleeff, Lori D.
Weddell, and Paul E. M. Wijnands have contributed
much to my understanding of polymerization and production technology. Phan L. Tang, Donald F. Lyons,
and Michael C. Coughlin, in addition to helpful discussions on fluoroelastomerpolymerization, have provided much background material, including patents
and publications, used in this book. John R. Richards
and John P. Congalidis ofDuPont have been helpful
in clarifying many details ofpolymerization kinetics.
Many colleagues in marketing technical groups have

been helpful to me in a number of developments over

the years, including Albert L. Moran, David L. Tabb,
John G. Bauerle, Ronald D. Stevens, and Stephen
Bowers. In addition to collaboration, Eric W. Thomas and Theresa M. Dobel have provided me with a
number of useful technical papers and reports.
Fluoroelastomers' suppliers have engaged in
healthy competition over the years, from which we
have all benefited by being pushed to develop improved products and processes for making them.
DuPont and DuPont Dow have used continuous polymerization processes to make a wide range ofpolymer compositions and have developed cure systems
for specialty fluoroelastomers. Dyneon (3M) has developed many bisphenol-curable products with excellent processing characteristics and properties.
Daikin has contributed a "living radical" polymerization process to make peroxide-curable fluoroelastomers with excellent processing characteristics.
Solvay Solexis and its predecessor companies
Ausimont and Montefluos have developed efficient
semibatchpolymerization systemsto make fluoroelastomers with carefully tailored architecture. Asahi
Glass persisted in developing viable polymerization
and curing systems fortetrafluoroethylene/propylene
copolymers. In many cases, technical people have
provided continuity in developments through significant changes in corporate structure. Much data in
this book is excerpted from papers and product literature provided by these companies. I have tried to
give adequate recognition of the accomplishments
ofthe technical people involved.
I have been supported in my career, and have
been given considerable freedom in choosing directions for polymer and process development, by a
number of managers in DuPont and DuPont Dow.
Herman E. Schroeder was my research director for
many years, including my first five-year assignment
in fluoroelastomers, during which he supported a
difficult development project involving considerable
plant test work. Of several managers of fluoroelastomers research, Patrick S. Ireland, Subhash Gangal,
and Dennis L. Filger have been particularly supportive. Fluoroelastomers Global Technical Director
James D. MacLachlan and Technology Vice President Ashby L. Rice of DuPont Dow have supported

XIV

my work on this book, allowing me to start before

retirement and to continue helpful contacts with colleagues after retiring.
Sina Ebnesajjad, editor of the PDL Fluorocarbon Series, has provided invaluable help in guiding
me through the writing ofthis volume. He provided
much ofthe material in chapters on Fluoroelastomers
Monomers and Processing of Fluoroelastomers,
and led me to incorporate data from other books in
the PDL Handbook Series in the Fluoroelastomers

FLUOROELASTOMERS HANDBOOK
Applications section. I also wish to thank Millicent
Treloar, Senior Acquisitions Editor of Plastics Design Library at William Andrew Publishing, for her
support and suggestions. Many thanks are due to
Jeanne M. Roussel and her staff at Write One for
carefully handling the myriad details involved in converting my rough manuscript into a finished book.
Finally, I am grateful for the continuing patience
and support ofmy wife, Betty, during my career and
during the writing ofthis book in the last few years.