Polymers are the most rapidly growing sector of the materials industry.
As long ago as 1981, polymer production exceeded 24 million metric tons per year. As polymer production has grown, so has the number of people who work in this field. Today, it's estimated that 50 percent of the chemical engineers and chemists in the United States work in the polymer industry. Polymer engineers need to apply the traditional skills of chemical engineers, such as plant design, process design, thermodynamics, and transport phenomena, to various problems involving the production and use of polymers. Many of the engineers currently working in industry trying to solve thes problems have background in either chemical engineering or polymers.