Thermoanalytical studies on specialty polymers in Japan

Thermoanalytical studies on specialty polymers in Japan are reviewed. The basic and applied researches for the developments of new specialty polymers such as high-performance polymers, liquid crystalline polymers, and biodegradable polymers during the 1990's are introduced from the standpoint of thermal analysis. Many studies were performed for the improvements of durability and thermal stability of engineering polymers, biodegradable polymers and so on. A special topic of researches on the thermal behavior of polymers by high-pressure differential thermal analysis is included in this review. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.