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1、Department of Plastics EngineeringThe History of Plastics,Plastics are said to be the most versatile materials on earth.Almost all of the products we use in our daily lives contain plastics.This display chronicles some of the key discoveries,inventions,and people that have helped make the plastics i
2、ndustry what it is today.You will notice that many important developments related to plastics and rubber happened right here in Massachusetts,beginning with Charles Goodyears 1839 discovery of the vulcanization process for natural rubber in nearby Woburn.Also note that UMass Lowell(formerly Lowell T
3、echnological Institute)was the very first university in the nation to offer a degree in Plastics Engineering.Take a few minutes and learn more about the“History of Plastics”.,Charles Goodyear spent most of his adult life trying to improve the properties of natural rubber.Working in Woburn,MA in 1839
4、,Goodyear discovers that adding sulfur to natural rubber greatly enhances its elasticity and toughness.His“sulfurized”rubber,later known as“vulcanized”rubber,is still widely used today.While the Goodyear name is famous,Charles Goodyear never realized fortune from his invention.,Charles Goodyear,The
5、mirror frames shown above are among the earliest molded“plastic”parts ever made.They were compression molded from a shellac based plastic molding compound known as Florence Compound which was developed in Florence,MA.Its inventor,Alfred Critchlow,founded the Pro Molding Corporation in 1847.Pro is th
6、ought to be the very first plastics molding company to be established in the United States.,Molded plastic mirror frames and a hand made compression mold.(circa 1866),A new semi-synthetic plastic was unveiled by Alexander Parkes at the 1862 Great International Exhibition in London,England.This new m
7、aterial,which the public dubbed Parkesine,was an organic material consisting of cellulose nitrate and a solvent.Parkesine could be heated,formed,and it retained its shape when cooled.The material could be molded or carved into products such as buttons,combs,picture frames and knife handles.However,P
8、arkesine was never commercialized due its relatively high cost compared to vulcanized rubber.,Alexander Parkes,John Wesley Hyatt,a printer and inventor from Albany NY,blended nitrocellulose with camphor(sap from the laurel tree)to produce a durable,colorful,and moldable thermoplastic known as cellul
9、oid(also known as Pyroxylin)in 1868.Celluloid was the first commercially successful semi-synthetic plastic.It was used for products such as billiard balls,shirt collars,eyeglass frames and pen housings.,John Wesley Hyatt,The first synthetic plastic was discovered in 1907 when a Belgian born chemist,
10、Dr.Leo H.Baekeland,reacted phenol and formaldehyde under pressure using hexamethylenetetramine as a catalyst for the reaction.The result was a thermosetting“phenolic”plastic he named Bakelite.Compared to other plastics available at the time,such as celluloid,Baekelands thermosetting phenolic was mor
11、e stable.Once molded,this new material would not burn or soften when reheated,or dissolve.This benefit made it stand out from the other plastics on the market.Bakelite was an instant commercial success.It was electrically resistant,chemically stable,heat resistant,rigid,moisture and weather resistan
12、t.It was very widely used for its electrical insulating capability.Baekeland sold the rights to his invention to the Eastman Kodak Company that first used it for camera bodies.It is also interesting to note that J.W.Hyatt,inventor of celluloid and founder of the Hyatt-Burroughs Billiard Ball Company
13、,personally ordered his company to stop using celluloid and substitute Bakelite for their billiard balls due to its superior performance.,Dr.Leo H.Baekeland,Most early“thermoset”plastic parts were produced by compression or transfer molding.These molded phenolic Ekco radio housings are being deflash
14、ed after being compression molded.(circa 1934),Polyvinyl chloride(PVC)is one of the most widely used thermoplastics in use today,particularly in the building and home construction industries where it is used for siding,window profiles&pipe.,The commercialization of PVC in 1927 is the direct result o
15、f research work that was conducted by Waldo Semon,a chemist working at the B.F.Goodrich Rubber Company.While PVC was already known at the time,it had no commercial value since it could not be processed without degrading.Semon discovered that PVC could be melt processed without degrading if a high bo
16、iling point liquid“plasticizer”was added to it.PVC formulations can be either rigid or flexible depending their plasticizer concentration.The very first applications for PVC included foul weather gear and electrical wire insulation.,1939:Wood TV Cabinet,1948:Phenolic TV Cabinet,1970:HIPS TV Cabinet,
17、2003:HIPS TV Cabinet,Although polystyrene(PS)was unknowingly discovered by a German apothecary in 1839,it was not until 1930 that a scientist from the BASF Corporation developed a commercial process for the manufacture of PS.General purpose PS is a very transparent but fairly brittle thermoplastic.S
18、hortly after its commercial introduction,other rubber modified or rubber toughened grades,known as high impact polystyrene(HIPS)were introduced.,PS and HIPS are still widely today for items that range from razor cartridges to television cabinets.Television cabinets were initially wooden,then thermos
19、et phenolic,followed by flame retardant HIPS that is still used today.,Rohm and Haas was the first company to market polymethyl methacrylate(PMMA),better known as acrylic“.It was introduced commercially in 1937.Their tradename for this new thermoplastic was Plexiglas.PMMA is a very hard material and
20、 is actually more transparent than glass.This transparent thermoplastic was first used for applications that ranged from contact lenses to thermoformed aircraft canopies.It then became the material of choice for automotive tail light lenses due to its superior optical properties,where it is still us
21、ed today.PMMA is also used in a wide variety of other applications including acrylic fibers,paints and coatings,and as a marble replacement for kitchen countertops.,The process of Injection Molding involves injecting hot(melted)plastic into a closed mold cavity.Most early injection molding machines
22、were imported from Europe.The IM machine shown below was one of the first US built machines and was manufactured by the HPM Corporation in Marion,OH.(circa 1937),The E.I.duPont de Nemours Company wanted to develop a synthetic fiber that could replace silk.Shortly thereafter,duPont scientists,led by
23、Dr.Wallace H.Carothers,pulled the first long,strong,flexible strands of a synthetic polymer fiber out of a test tube.They realized immediately that this artificial fiber had properties similar and in many ways superior to natural fibers.The material,poly(hexamethylene adipamide),is more commonly kno
24、wn as“nylon 66”.It was intoduced commercially in 1938.One of the earliest uses of nylon 66 fiber was for tooth brush bristles,previously made from animal(Chinese boar)bristles.During World War II,nylon was used for many applications including cargo parachutes,tire cord for bombers,glider tow ropes,f
25、lak jackets,mosquito netting,and jungle clothing.,Dr.Wallace H.Carothers,The first solution to molding“larger”plastic parts was a molding machine with multiple injection units.,This 1939 HPM injection molding machine had four injection units giving it a total shot capacity of 32 ounces.It was used t
26、o mold the“very large”(for that time)automobile dash board parts shown above.,Polyethylene terephthalate(PET)is an extremely versatile thermoplastic made by the condensation reaction of ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid.Discovered in 1941,PET was initially used for the production of synthetic te
27、xtile fiber,know today as Dacron.Biaxially oriented PET film,known as Mylar,is also widely used.However,the single largest use for PET is“stretch blow molded”beverage bottles.PET bottles are transparent,lightweight,have good barrier properties,and shatter resistant.Like most thermoplastics,PET is re
28、cyclable.In most cases,the recycled PET bottles are reprocessed to form PET textile fiber for clothing.,A major contribution to the mold making and molding industries was made by I.T.Quarnstrom,a toolmaker from Detroit,in 1943.He came up with the concept of producing“standard mold bases”having inter
29、changeable components.The standard mold base would greatly simplify the machining process for plastic molds and reduce the time required to build injection and compression molds.The standard mold bases were produced by the DME Corporation that is still the leading supplier of mold bases today.,Dr.Ro
30、y Plunkett,a young scientist working at DuPont,accidentally discovers polytetrafluoroethylene(PTFE),an inherently slippery and remarkably chemically resistant plastic.It is said to be the most slippery substance on earth.The initial discovery occurred in 1938,but the commercial introduction of DuPon
31、ts Teflon did not occur until 1946.Teflon is most widely known for its widespread use in nonstick cookware and as cable insulation but it is used in a wide variety of other unique applications.Teflon sheet is used as an insulator and lubricant between the copper skin and the stainless steel skeleton
32、 of the Statue of Liberty.It is also widely used for specialty textiles.The roof of the Pontac Silverdome is made of a Teflon coated woven glass fiber fabric.,The tough thermoplastic known as ABS,short for polyacrylonitrile butadiene styrene,was first produced in 1951.At first,ABS was just a“blend”o
33、f polystyrene-acrylonitrile copolymer(SAN)and butadiene rubber as an impact modifier.However,the properties of the blend were not particularly good.It was then discovered that outstanding impact performance could be obtained if the SAN was chemically grafted onto the butadiene rubber.The grafted ver
34、sion is known as ABS“terpolymer”.The properties of ABS can be fine tuned by controlling the relative ratio of each monomer.ABS is widely used in applications where toughness is required.One of the earliest applications was for football helmets,which are now made from polycarbonate.Today,ABS is most
35、widely used for consumer electronics and business machine housings.,General Motors introduced the Chevrolet Corvette in 1953.It was designed by GMs chief stylist Harley Earl,who was intrigued with the use of glass fiber reinforced plastic as a body material.A total of 300 Corvettes were produced in
36、the first year of production,each containing forty one glass fiber reinforced unsaturated polyester body parts.The 1953 Corvette was available only with a white body and red interior,and sold for$3,498.00.While the Corvette has changed dramatically over its 50 year history,one thing that has not cha
37、nged is the use of the glass fiber reinforced plastic body.,1953 Corvette,2003 50th Anniversary Corvette,Working independently,Hermann Schnell of Bayer A.G.in Germany and Daniel Fox of the General Electric Company in the US,both discovered polycarbonate in 1953.This optically transparent engineering
38、 thermoplastic offers a great balance of stiffness and toughness,heat resistance and electrical insulating properties.It is widely used for durable products such as automotive headlights,tool housings,helmets and computer enclosures.In more recent years,special grades of polycarbonate have been deve
39、loped for optical recording media.Virtually all CDs,CD-ROMs and DVDs are manufactured using polycarbonate.,A number of scientists have been named Nobel Laureates for their pioneering work in the field of polymers or macromolecules.They include:,Hermann Staudinger for his many discoveries in the fiel
40、d of macromolecular chemistry.(1953)Karl Ziegler and Giulio Natta for their discoveries related to polymer chemistry and new polymerization technologies.(1963)Paul J.Flory for fundamental achievements,both theoretical and experimental,in the physical chemistry of macromolecules.(1974)P.G.de Gennes f
41、or creating the reptation model of polymer dynamics used to predict polymer properties and viscosity.(1991)Alan J.Heeger,Alan G.MacDiarmid and H.Shirakawa for the discovery and development of inherently conductive polymers.(2000),The Nobel Prize,The Plastics Engineering Program at UMass Lowell(then
42、known as Lowell Technological Institute)was founded by the late Russell W.Ehlers in 1954.,High Density PolyethyleneThe thermoplastic known as“high density polyethylene”(HDPE)was first produced commercially by Phillips Petroleum in 1955.It was given the tradename Marlex.This new thermoplastic offered
43、 a good balance of mechanical properties,low specific gravity,electrical insulation,and chemical resistance.However,the material had few markets in those early years.Then came the Hula Hoop!,Richard Knerr and Artur Melin,founders of the Wham-O Company,were the architects of the biggest“fad”of all ti
44、me the“Hula Hoop”.The Hula Hoop evolved from bamboo hoops previously used in Australia.At the peak of this craze in 1958,Wham-O was using 1,000,000 pounds of HDPE each week for Hula Hoop production.They were the largest user of HDPE at the time.,The Monsanto House of the Future was constructed at Di
45、sneyland in 1957.The frame and structure of the house were 100%plastic.The house featured a number of innovations including a visual phone,an ultrasonic dishwasher,and a microwave oven.The house had four cantilevered wings floating above beautifully landscaped grounds and waterfalls.Like many concep
46、t designs,Monsantos House of the Future was never mass produced.However,today the building and construction industry is one of the largest and fastest growing markets for plastics.,Working at the Milan Polytechnic Institute,Professor Guillo Natta had been examining propylene reactions attempting to
47、find a new commercial polymer.The best efforts of other researchers had yielded only soft,gummy substances which showed no promise.His work was of great importance as it represented the first attempt to“engineer”a polymer molecule to a predetermined specification using a designed polymerization tech
48、nology.The first molecular mechanic succeeded in 1954,building a long chain stereoregular polypropylene molecule.Polypropylene went into production in 1957 and is now a commodity plastic offering a very good balance of properties that include stiffness,toughness,chemical resistance,and translucent o
49、ptics.One very unique characteristic of polypropylene is its ability function for thousands of cycles as an“integral hinge”.Polypropylene and its copolymers are among the most widely used thermoplastics.Professor Natta was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for this work.,The first student chapter
50、 of the Society of Plastics Engineers was established at the Lowell Technological Institute(now UMass Lowell)in 1959.,Plastics Engineering Education,Today,there are 112 student chapters chartered by the Society of Plastics Engineers around the world.,Plastics are used extensively in the medical indu
