Chemical families

In the following classification, the main polymers are arranged by chemical family, according to their decreasing commercial importance (tonnage produced or consumed): thermoplastics on the one hand, thermosets on the other.

Each family is represented only by the components most widely used in industry. This list is by no means exhaustive, but it does include no less than a hundred different polymers (in terms of their structure and therefore their properties), demonstrating the great diversity of these products, commonly referred to by the single term PLASTICS.