1. Timeline

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

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

4. 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

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

6. Natural Rubber Natural rubber: mainly polyisopropene
Tends to be sticky when hot, brittle when warm
Does not reform when stretched

7. Natural Rubber Natural rubber: mainly polyisopropene
Charles Goodyear, 1839
Oven cleaning
Natural rubber: mainly polyisopropene
Tends to be sticky when hot, brittle when warm
Does not reform when stretched

8. Ebonite bracelet from 1880
1851: Hard Rubber— 20-30% Sulfur

9. Christian Schoenbine Swiss Chemist 1840’s Developed Cellulose nitrate
Mix of cotton (wife’s apron), nitric acid, and sulfuric acid
Early Films
Highly flammable and explosive

10. Parkes Invents Celluloid
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

11. Alexander Parkes- 1855 Rights sold to Daniel Spill (1865)
Patented
Downfall- high cost of the raw materials needed in its production.

12. 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
Occasional Explosion upon impact
Formed the American Celluloid Company which is today the Plastics Division of the Celanese Corporation

13. Bakelite Dr. Leo Baekeland Patented in 1909 Thermoset resin
First totally synthetic plastic (1907)
Didn’t throw away his foul glassware
Patented in 1909
Thermoset resin
Replaced rubber for insulation in electrics

14. Bakelite

15. Bakelite
Phenol-formaldehyde resins which he called Bakelite.

16. 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

17. Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)

18. Applications of PVC

19. Applications of PVC
plasticizers

20. Polymerization
In 1920, German Hermann Staudinger published theories on polyaddition
Nine year later published the polymerization of polystyrene.

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

22. Styrofoam
Foam egg cartons, burger containers, coffee cups , "peanuts" used in packing and the lightweight foam pieces that cushion new appliances and electronics.
Gas is blown in during the polymerization-- 95 % of styrofoam is air (try dissolving in acetone)
CFC’s were used until the 80’s: phased out and replaced with pentane or CO2
Polystyrene up close

23. Dr. Wallace H. Carothers
1930’s research on polymer chains at DuPont Chemical Department
Invented Neoprene and Nylon

24. Nylons Nylon 66 co-crystalline Fibers are spun (showerhead)
Condensates of aliphatic diacids with aliphatic diamines
Introduced in the 1939 Worlds Fair
“Nylonmania” interrupted during WWII, but resumed after the war (the infamous Nylon riots of 1946)
Nylon 66
co-crystalline
Fibers are spun (showerhead)

25. Synthetic Rubbers
Gasoline pump hoses,
Hoses for automobile engines
Styrene/Butadiene copolymer (SBR) is the most important synthetic rubber,
and was the first and most widely produced rubber of WWII

26. Plexiglass: anionic polymerization
Windshields, plastic coatings, hard and soft contact lenses

27. Ok, but how can I make a leisure suit
Polyesters
Dacron

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

29. 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

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

31. Polypropylene Guilio Natta continued Ziegler’s work
Created polypropylene in 1957
Substituted for polyethylene where high temperatures were involved
Ex. Dishwasher safe dishes
Car’s front bumper made of polypropylene in 1978

32. Stereochemistry and Polymer Properties
Isotactic: fabrics for carpets, automobile parts, battery casings,
medicine bottles
Syndiotactic: new applications are emerging
Atactic: soft, and not very useful

33. Relevant Additional Links
History of Plastic and Leo Bakeland
inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blplastic.htm
History of Plastics
About Plastics