Thermoformed goods are an integral part of modern life. We encounter them in packaging and storage applications, in vehicle interiors and external components, in sanitary ware and other domestic fittings and in many other diverse products such as illuminated signs, paddling pools and pond liners, luggage, animal shelters and boat hulls.

This review provides a brief discussion of the thermoforming process, including its historical development and machinery and material requirements. Chapters are included on the advances in heater technology, new mould materials and fabrication methods, trimming methods, computer aided means for prediction of wall thickness, forming of crystallisable PET for microwave-transparent food containers, forming of thermoplastic foam products such as vehicle roof liners, forming of polypropylene which traditionally has a tendency to sag, heavy gauge twin sheet forming of large components previously made by other processes or from other materials and forming of fibre reinforced and multilayer sheets. In each instance a brief discussion is supported by extensive referencing to a supplementary section of the report, which contains more than 300 key abstracts identified from the Polymer Library.