When was plastic resin invented

Many products that are familiar to us are made from thermoplastics. This is a very versatile material that softens when heated. It can then be molded into various shapes. Colors may be added as desired, depending on the application. Other additives are used to make the product resistant to damage from heat, light, or bacteria. Thermoplastics are a popular choice for food packaging materials, since they can be molded into a variety of shapes at a relatively low cost.

The model home was a science fiction vision of what Monsanto hoped life would be like in the year It was packed with plastic inside and out: the external structure, indoor wall and floor coverings, handles, knobs, televisions, dishes, drapes, bathtub, and sleek Charles Eames furniture.

Even clothes made from synthetic fibers were hanging in the closets. Millions of visitors streamed in to see the spectacle and imagine a future made of resins. Countless commodities that were once made from substances like paper, metal, wood, and glass are now cast in resin.

Plastic is everywhere. Originally invented in the nineteenth century as a replacement for raw substances like ivory, rubber, and shellac which used to be harvested from insect secretions , plastic was conceived to cut manufacturers free from one of the greatest obstacles in industrial production: the limits of nature.

With resins, producers would no longer have to venture across the globe for dwindling natural resources. Now synthetic substitutes could be cooked up in onsite laboratories as needed.

Synthetics offered producers true flexibility. John Wesley Hyatt concocted Celluloid, the first successful plastic, in Made from shredded tissue paper mixed with nitric and sulfuric acids, the goop was most famously fashioned into photographic film. Bakelite was the next major breakthrough in resins. Working in a converted barn laboratory on his estate overlooking the Hudson River, the independent chemist and inventor Leo Baekeland created the first all-synthetic polymer in Pressed into molds when heated, Bakelite sturdily retained its shape upon cooling.

Bakelite was used to make all manner of goods, including knobs, brackets, insulation for electric cables, radios, cups, buttons, cameras, telephones, false gums, and silverware handles. Production processes for polymers were also undergoing major transformations during this period.

Injection molding—probably the most dominant plastic-making method today—was introduced in the early twentieth century. This super-efficient assembly-line process involves shooting liquid plastic into a closed mold, letting it harden which can take only seconds , and then opening the mold to eject the finished product. In the mids, at one company the same worker that formerly made plastic hair combs per day could turn out more than 10, in equal time using injection molding.

The years preceding World War II were a time of tremendous technological innovation for plastics in a climate of escalating industry consolidation. Cutting-edge discoveries like vinyl, ethylene, and acrylic were made not by independent scientists as in previous decades. Instead, these inventions were the assets of laboratories like Purity Hall, the research division of the chemical behemoth Du Pont, and other such operations at Dow, Union Carbide, Standard Oil, and Monsanto.

But crucial to the ascent of plastics was massive U. Preceding WWII , the plastics giants were locked in fierce competition with each other, as can be traced through dozens of patent lawsuits.

And to help lay the groundwork for a future made of plastics, SPI joined forces with the lavishly produced, media-savvy trade journal Modern Plastics, and the group began fostering deep ties to the federal government.

With WWII underway, plastics took on a central role in military supply chains. However, in , Leo Hendrik Baekeland improved phenol-formaldehyde reaction techniques and invented the first fully synthetic resin to become commercially successful under the trade name Bakelite. Here is a brief timeline of the evolution of plastics.

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The process of making plastic can be altered in numerous ways, leading to a lot of variety even among common plastics. For example, polyethylene plastics make up everything from supermarket bags and water bottles to hardened gun cases. Polystyrene is best known in its brittle form marketed as Styrofoam, but it is also used to create toy figurines and CD cases.

Additives are added during the polymerisation process to alter the properties of the plastic even further. How well a plastic hardens, resists heat or exposure, or even its colour, is often determined with additives. But even with these extras thrown in, once crushed into beads these plastics are still called resin. The beads are added to any plastic molding or baking process, creating all the plastic products around us today.

Yet while it is good to know how resin is manufactured, it is critical to know what properties you need for your final product.