Plastic History
There are always plastic materials around you. Wherever you go, you will find plastic. Bags, tools, toys, clothes, bottles, furniture, cars, phones, among other products are made, at least in part, of plastic. Since many years ago; plastic has become really important for normal human activities.
Plastic is a material that contains as an essential ingredient one or more organic polymeric substances of large molecular weight, is solid in its finished state, and, at some stage in its manufacture or processing into finished articles, can be shaped by flow.
The first man-made plastic was created by Alexander Parkes who publicly demonstrated it at the 1862 Great International Exhibition in London. The material called Parkesine was an organic material derived from cellulose that once heated could be molded, and retained its shape when cooled.
Celluloid is derived from cellulose and alcoholized camphor. John Wesley Hyatt invented celluloid as a substitute for the ivory in billiard balls in 1868. He first tried using collodion a natural substance, after spilling a bottle of it and discovering that the material dried into a tough and flexible film. However, the material was not strong enough to be used as a billiard ball, until the addition of camphor, a derivative of the laurel tree. The new celluloid could be molded with heat and pressure into a durable shape. Besides billiard balls, celluloid became famous as the first flexible photographic film used for still photography and motion pictures. John Wesley Hyatt created celluloid in a strip format for movie film. By 1900, movie film was an exploding market for celluloid.
Bakelite, the first resin after cellulose nitrate, formaldehyde was the next product to advance the technology of plastic. Around 1897, efforts to manufacture white chalkboards led to casein plastics (milk protein mixed with formaldehyde) Galalith and Erinoid are two early trade name examples. In 1899, Arthur Smith received British Patent 16,275, for "phenol-formaldehyde resins for use as an ebonite substitute in electrical insulation", the first patent for processing a formaldehyde resin. However, in 1907, Leo Hendrik Baekeland improved phenol-formaldehyde reaction techniques and invented the first fully synthetic resin to become commercially successful, trade named Bakelite.
Today plastic surrounds us everywhere. A look to our surroundings will show us the importance of this material in our daily life, be it in the home, the office, the supermarket, the factory, the hospital or the gym. Plastics are really important in the manufacture of thousands of objects for hundreds of uses, due to the variety of almost limitless properties that one can give to this material of low cost. There are plastics of all type and for each necessity: hard, soft, rigid, flexible, dense, slight, transparent, opaque, sticky, anti adherents, raincoats, absorbent, drivers, insulating and many more.
| Most common types of plastic | |
| THERMOPLASTICS | Uses |
| Polyethylene | Bags, vessels, kitchen accessories, containers … |
| Saturated polyesters | Bottles for drinks, food containers… |
| Polystyrenes | Packaging covers, insulating sheets… |
| Polyvinyl | Pipes, electric insulators, waterproof cloths… |
| Polypropylene | Boxes, cases, syringes… |
| THERMOSETTINGS | Uses |
| Phenols | Electric insulators, breakers, outlet bases… |
| Amines | Plugs, breakers, outlet bases, panel covers… |
| Polyester resins | Ships, pools, fibers, fabrics… |
| Epoxy resins | Sports equipment, aviation, adhesives… |
| Rubber | Tires, hoses, rubber objects… |
| Neoprene | Sports equipment, water suits, straps… |
| Polyurethanes | Fenders, artificial skin, rubber foam… |
| Silicones | Prosthesis, probes y tubes for medical use, tight lids… |