Polymer revolution

Plastic Moral Vice Gluttony, Plastics and polymers -revolution or... 

Three of the remaining four subsidiaries of European companies listed in Table 1.1 were Rhine Valle first movers. Henkel, based in Diisseldorf, and Sol-vay, headquartered in Brussels, fifty miles from the Rhine, became the first movers during the 1880s in their respective industries. Both maintained their competitive capabilities for more than a hundred years. A third Rhine Valley pioneer was the forerunner of Akzo, Vereinigt Glanzstaff-Fabriken, a first mover in rayon and related artificial fabrics. Owing partly to World War II, the company did not participate in the polymer revolution in fibers and so... 

Olin Corporation s product portfolio also went full circle, but it differed from Grace in that Olin transitioned out of chemicals only to later reenter. Olin was one of the very few explosive companies that did not join Du Pont in 1903-1904 to form the B. 1. du Pont de Nemours Powder Company (see Chapter 3). Unlike Du Pont, it remained a producer of explosives and ammunition, buying in the 1930s Winchester Firearms Company (at much the same time that Du Pont obtained Remington Arms). Olin did not participate in the polymer revolution. But in 1947 Du Pont, to satisfy the government s antitrust division, granted Olin the licenses and technologies to produce cellophane. ... 

Despite these more advanced efforts, polyacetylene has yet to become an article of commerce. Its importance lies in launching the conducting polymers revolution, and in establishing that very high conductivities can be seen with doped organic polymers. Its downfall is its insolubility. Other. systems have been developed that have more desirable combinations of conductivity and processability, and we will review these below. Note that for many applications, conductivity values that rival those of copper are unnecessary. Often values of 10 -10 S cm are quite acceptable. 

The success of the synthetic polymers, coupled with the readily available raw materials derived from petroleum or coal, led to a decreased emphasis on natural polymers. In addition, the simpler nature of the synthetic polymer molecules made them easier to understand from a theoretical standpoint. As we learned later, many natural polymers are extraordinarily complex in both structure and synthesis. It was much easier to deduce structure-property relationships with the synthetic polymers. A third factor shaping this synthetic polymer revolution was the broad range of properties which could be achieved - something seemingly beyond the reach of the natural polymers, at that time. 

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