Why is polystyrene rigid? Polystyrene is an amorphous polymer, and based on my knowledge, the more amorphous a polymer is, the less rigid it becomes?
Polystyrene is a thermoplastic polymer.It is solid in roomtemperature but above 100 degC it melts.It becomes rigid again when cooled.This temperature behaviour is exploidedfor extrusion(It is aprocess which is used to create objects of a fixed cross sectional property.A material is pushed through a die of desired cross section.)and also for molding and vacuum forming.So it can be devide into molds with fine detail.It is more flexible.The short range van der walls attrraction between ppolymer chain is also present.Hence polystyrene is rigid.
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