History
People have always tried to improve the materials they used, which would offer advantages that were not found in natural products. The production of plastic materials began with the use of natural resources with plastic properties such as mastic and gum. Then, with the development of technology, the chemical modification of natural resources (e.g. rubber, nitrocellulose) was done. Probably, the first sample invented was by Alexander Parkes in 1855. Today we know this material as gelatin. Another material, polyvinyl chloride, known to all of us as PVC, was initially polymerized between 1838-1872. Another important discovery was made in 1907, when Leo Baekeland created Bakelite. It was the first fully synthetic mass-produced plastic.
How is plastic created?
Plastics come from organic products. The materials used to produce plastic come from nature, such as cellulose, coal, natural gas, salt and of course crude oil.
Crude oil is a complex mixture of thousands of compounds and must undergo a specific processing process to be useful. The process of making plastic begins with distillation in oil refineries. Distillation involves separating crude oil into other groups called fractions. Each fraction is a mixture of hydrocarbon chains that differ in size and molecular weight. One of these fractions, naphtha, is a vital component in the production of plastics.
The processes used to produce plastics are called polymerization and polycondensation. In the reactor where polymerization takes place, monomers such as ethylene and propylene are linked together to form long polymer chains. Each polymer has its own properties, structure, and size depending on the different types and basic monomers used.
Types of Plastic
While the word plastic predicates a material, there are actually several types of plastics. However, they can be categorized into two basic groups of polymers:
- Thermoplastics, which soften with heating and harden with cooling
- Thermosets, which do not soften once they are formed
Plastic today
Although plastic items have been around for about 100 years, they are considered modern products compared to traditional materials such as wood, metal, paper. In recent decades, plastics have achieved several technological achievements with new design solutions, environmental protection solutions and production cost reduction. Today, thanks to plastic, the only limit for designers is their own imagination.
