The History of Plastics

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The History of Plastics

• To accompany video

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Timeline
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Definition

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

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As early as

• Go back as far as the Old Testament
• References of
• Fillers
• Adhesives
• Coatings

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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

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In the beginning

• Greek word plastikos
• First natural plastics
• Tortoise shell
• Tree resins
• Shellac
• Insect secretion

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Christian Schoenbine

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

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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

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Ebonite bracelet from 1880
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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

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Alexander Parkes- 1855

• Rights sold to Daniel Spill (1865)
• Patented
• Downfall- high cost of the raw materials needed
  in its production.

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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

Formed the American Celluloid Company which is
today the Plastics Division of the Celanese
Corporation
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Bakelite

• Dr. Leo Baekeland
• First totally synthetic plastic (1907)
• Patented in 1909
• Thermoset resin
• Replaced rubber for insulation in electrics

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Bakelite

• Phenol-formaldehyde resins which he called
  Bakelite.

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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

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PVC Cloth brushes from England in 1950
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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)
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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
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Dr. Wallace H. Carothers

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

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World War II

• Nylon
• Ropes, tent and parachute straps, belts, etc
• Teflon
• Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)
• Dupont Chemical Department
• First used for artillery shell covers

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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

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Polyethylene

• 1943 Karl Ziegler changed polymerization of
  polyethylene
• Use of catalysts
• Now is most widely produced and perhaps most
  versatile plastic

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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
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Relevant Additional Links

• History of Plastic and Leo Bakeland
• inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blplastic.ht
  m
• History of Plastics
• www.lle.mdx.ac.uk/site/docs/dt/Historyofplastics.h
  tml
• About Plastics
• www.americanplasticscouncil.org/benefits/about_pla
  stics/history.html