Phenolic
(Bakelite) --
History - The first truly synthetic
plastic was invented by Leo Baekeland
- a Belgium chemist living in New York.
Baekeland was already very rich as he
had invented the first commercially successful
photographic paper and sold it to George
Eastman in 1898 for $1 million. With such
money, Baekeland could engage himself
in whatever research he decided to do.
In 1905, he found that when he combined
formaldehyde and phenol, he produced a
material that bound all types of powders
together. He called this material Bakelite
- after himself - and it was the first
thermosetting plastic in the world. This
was a material that once it set hard would
not soften under heat. It had so many
uses and so many potential uses, that
it was called "the material of a
thousand uses".
Bakelite was water and solvent resistant;
could be used as an electrical insulator;
was rock hard but could be cut by a knife
and was used in 78 rpm records and telephones.
It was a naturally brittle material in
pure form, but it could be strengthened
with fillers such as wood pulp and cellulose.
Uses - PF was used
in early consumer electronic products such
as telephones, radios, records. Phenolics
are little used in general consumer products
today due to the cost and complexity of
production and their brittle nature. An
exception to the overall decline is the
use in small precision-shaped components
where their specific properties are required,
such as molded disc brake cylinders, saucepan
handles, electrical plugs and switches,
and electrical iron parts. Today, Bakelite
is manufactured under various commercial
brand names such as Micarta. Micarta is
produced in sheets, rods and tubes for hundreds
of industrial applications in the electronics,
power generation and aerospace industries.
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