A Brief History of Natural and Synthetic Plastic Materials

1 A Brief History of Natural and Synthetic Plastic Materials 

Charles Goodyear [1], an American scientist, worked with gutta-percha, a gum from natural tropical trees, and Thomas Hancock, a British scientist who simultaneously and independently developed a process for the vulcanisation of rubber (1839) by reacting it with sulphur and heat, are credited with the first deliberate attempt to chemically modify a natural polymer to produce a moulding material. Gutta-percha was used to protect and insulate the first submarine telegraph cables. The combined and independent efforts of these men helped to lay the foundation for the manufacture of synthetic materials using chemistry. 

At the International Exhibition of 1862, Alexander Parkes [2] first introduced an organic derivative of cellulose that could be moulded when heated and retain that shape when cooled. He invented the treatment of cellulose fibres with nitric acid forming cellulose nitrate that was the first semi-synthetic plastic material. He used this to make decorative brooches, trinkets and knife handles. He claimed that it could do anything that rubber could do but could be produced at a lower price. He formed a company making a 

A Practical Approach to Quantitative Metal Analysis of Organic Matrices Martin Brennan 2008 John Wiley Sons, Ltd 

In 1909 the first true plastic was developed by reacting phenolic-formaldehyde (Bakelite) in the presence of a (propriety) catalyst. It was done by L. Hendrik Baekeland [3] who coined the word plastic , a substance he created from coal tar. The material had excellent heat resistance and low electrical conductivity and when blended with mica, clays, asbestos, etc., had considerable strength and resistance. In recent years, these materials have been used as part of manufacture to make casings for clocks, toasters and radios, among other things. 

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