Thermosetting materials - Introduction

Thermoset materials are products whose transformation leads, through a chemical reaction, to three-dimensional macromolecular compounds that are thermoset or thermorigid materials.

The term thermoset is often misused to designate both moldable materials and molded objects. Practitioners even use the global noun thermoset, which has not been formalized by either the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) or ISO TC 61.

In most cases, the base resins for thermosetting materials are essentially linear polymers with low molecular weights.