Professional Documents
Culture Documents
History of Plastics
History of Plastics
A resin is obtained by
evaporating and coagulating the milk
from the gutta percha tree trunk. It
can be shaped in boiling water.
http://www.bouncing-balls.com/serendipity/gutta.htm
In 1839 a German apothecary, Eduard Simon,
distilled an oil from the resin of the Sweetgum tree,
and named it "styrol". Over a few days it formed a
jelly, which he called styrol oxide. It was
actually poor quality polystyrene and not an oxide.
Artificial horn
Pen
Celluloid Figurines
PART TWO: MAN-MADE
PLASTICS
Phenol + Formaldehyde P-F resin + water
Dr Leo Baekeland
(Belgian) made P-F
resins; Founded
General Bakelite Co. in
1910 in USA
Bayer (Germany) and Luft (Austria) had already
made similar resins, but failed to commercialise them.
Bakelite Companies.
James Swinburne formed Fireproof Celluloid
Syndicate Ltd in 1904 to investigate the P-F
insulating resins shown him by Luft of Austria. He
failed to make insulator mouldings, but made a
hard lacquer, more durable than shellac, and used
it for coating brass to prevent tarnishing - (brass
bedsteads were fashionable and made in
Birmingham).
In 1910 he formed the Damard Lacquer Co. in a
lean-to shed in Birmingham. Successful. Demand
rose. Patent struggles with Baekeland.
BAKELITE Ltd was formed in 1927 to
exploit Baekelands patents in the UK by
merging:
Damard Lacquer Co.,
Baekeland Inc.,
Mouldensite Ltd (a leading moulding
company) and
Redmanol Ltd (the UK arm of an American
sales company)
PVC was discovered in 1912 by Fritz
Klatte, a German chemist.
Klatte reacted acetylene with hydrochloric
acid to produce vinyl chloride. Thinking
he'd failed, he put it on a shelf, where it
went solid (formed PVC). He
patented it in Germany. His company never
did anything with it.
PVC window
frames were
made on a
large-scale in
the early 1970s
in Germany
Recorded music
1880s Shellac used for records by Emil Berliner. First
to use discs (rather than phonograph cylinders)
despite earlier work by Edison, Bell and Cros. Even
with cotton reinforcement it was brittle, but it could
reproduce fine detail. Other companies used ebonite.
21st Century
a rmoured vehicles
Rapid development
Unsaturated polyesters (fibre glass
boats) 1940s and 1950s
Stackable chairs
Polycarbonate
for long riot
American football shields and jet fighter
helmet cockpit canopies
Australian-designed
polycarbonate beer
glass
Polycarbonate can now be made from carbon dioxide (and propylene oxide) instead of the hazardous use of phosgene
reacted with bisphenol A. The last-named chemical is under suspicion as a health hazard to foetuses and children
Lithium ion batteries
A separator is a plastic film (often specially
modified polypropylene, or a polyimide)
preventing the electrodes from touching, but
letting lithium ions pass between them to allow
the charge and discharge of the battery.
A hybrid car has between 50 and 70
batteries.
plug-in hybrids--
80 to 200
fully electric cars
at least 150.
SUPERBUS MADE IN AN OVEN
Collapsible
water bottle
900 of these
Syringes; catheters worldwide
Implants
Temporary heart
Radiation shielding (instead of lead)
blood glucose meters; pumps; drug
packaging
Note: plastic components can incorporate
antimicrobial additives (biocides) to combat
infection
Only a few reinforced plastics parts shown here
Engine cowlings
Cabin floor
Galleys and
Centre wing box
lavatories
Aileron (fibreglass)
Feb 2011
Some biodegradable bags generate methane
rapidly during landfill
The UK Environment Agency (EA) has temporarily withdrawn its report while a legal query is resolved.
The report shows that re-use of bags rather than the material of which
they are made per se is the critical factor in reducing environmental impact. A cotton bag would have to be used at least 131
times to ensure that it has a lower global warming potential than a conventional single use lightweight HDPE carrier
bag that is not reused. Paper and compostable bioplastic bags also show higher global warming potential than the
conventional plastic bag. US students have identified polyurethane-eating organisms from the Amazon area.
The oceans have big islands of plastic rubbish
delivered to a central point by converging ocean currents