The History of Plastics

To accompany video

Timeline

Definition
Plastic is broadly defined as
Any inherently formless material that can be molded or modeled under heat or pressure

As early as
Go back as far as the Old Testament
References of: Fillers Adhesives Coatings

Good Ol Enoch Noyes

1760 Opened business with the use of natural
polymers Made combs out of organic proteins (Keratin and Albuminiod) derived from animal horns, hoofs, an tortoise shells

In the beginning
Greek word plastikos First natural plastics
Tortoise shell Tree resins Shellac Insect secretion

Christian Schoenbine
Swiss Chemist 1840s Developed Cellulose nitrate
Mix of cotton, nitric acid, and sulfuric acid

Rubbers Helping Hand

Charles Goodyear's discovery of the
Vulcanization process for natural rubber in 1839. In 1851, the rubber industry discovered ebonite, or hard rubber
The first thermosetting material to be involved in a chemical modification of natural material

Ebonite bracelet from 1880

Parkes Invents First Man-Made Plastic

The first man-made plastic was unveiled by
Alexander Parkes at the 1862 Great International Exhibition in London.
Parkesine- organic material derived from cellulose that could be molded in heat and retain its shaped when cooled Buttons Combs Pens

Alexander Parkes- 1855

Rights sold to Daniel Spill (1865)
Patented

Downfall- high cost of the raw materials needed

in its production.

John Wesley Hyatt

Billiard Co. in U.S.
Needed substitute for ivory in making balls

John Wesley Hyatt developed collodion

Upon spilling a bottle of collodion in his workshop, he discovered that the material congealed into a tough, flexible film Camphor and cellulose nitrate Explosion upon impact

Bakelite
Dr. Leo Baekeland
First totally synthetic plastic (1907)

Patented in 1909 Thermoset resin Replaced rubber for insulation in

electrics

Bakelite
Phenol-formaldehyde resins
which he called Bakelite.

Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)

PVC was first created by
the German chemist Eugen Baumann in 1872. Patented in 1913 Waldo L. Semon, invented a way to make polyvinyl chloride (PVC) useful

PVC Cloth brushes from England in 1950

Polymerization
In 1920, German Hermann
Staudinger published theories on polyaddition Nine year later published the polymerization of polystyrene.
1950s Uncle Sam moneybox, from England (Polystyrene)

Polystyrene
Dow Chemical
brought polystyrene to the U.S. in 1937
Toy shark, in Polystyrene, with moving jaw, Made in USA around 1950 Polystyrene up close

Dr. Wallace H. Carothers

1930s research on
polymer chains at DuPont Chemical Department Published theory of polycondensation Invented Neoprene and Nylon

World War II
Nylon
Ropes, tent and parachute straps, belts, etc

Teflon
Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) Dupont Chemical Department First used for artillery shell covers

World War II
Polyethylene (1933)
Imperial Chemical Industries in England E.W. Fawcett & R.O. Gibson First used for underwater cable coatings and insulation for radar

Polyethylene
1943 Karl Ziegler changed
polymerization of polyethylene
Use of catalysts

Now is most widely

produced and perhaps most versatile plastic

Polypropylene
Guilio Natta continued Zieglers work Created polypropylene in 1957 Substituted for polyethylene where high
temperatures were involved
Ex. Dishwasher safe dishes

Cars front bumper made of polypropylene in 1978