are soft and springy or rubbery and can be deformed and revert to their original shape on loading release.

Conventional thermoset plastics or elastomers cannot be melted and re-shaped after they are cured. This usually prevents recycling for the same purpose, except as filler material. New developments involving thermoset epoxy resins which on controlled and contained heating form crosslinked networks permit repeatedly reshaping, like silica glass by reversible covalent bond exchange reactions on reheating