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Bakelite: 80 Years Since the First Synthetic Resin

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Bakelite: 80 Years Since the First Synthetic Resin HISTORICAL NOTE Bakelite: 80 Years Since the First Synthetic Resin Synthetic plastics in all their varied 1884 the French chemist Hilaire Chardon- tions." He continued to describe three forms and types have become an impor­ net created viscose rayon, the first syn­ stages of the reaction of phenol or its deriv­ tant part of everyday life—from industry, to thetic fiber. In 1901 A. Smith created the atives with formaldehyde or other alde­ architecture and home building, to medi­ first alkyd (glycerophthalic) resin, finally in hydes, producing a water-soluble cine, science, and art. It seems difficult to 1913 as Glyptal. In 1908 Jacques E. Bran- intermediate product. The intermediate imagine that less than a century ago only a denberger, a Swiss chemist, invented cel­ product could be used to impregnate few difficult-to-obtain natural substances lophane. wood, paper, cardboard, or fabrics. The fi­ were known for all the same applications. During the same period, British and nal stage of the reaction resulted in a resin­ In 1909, Leo H. Baekeland introduced American chemists experimented with ous mass that could be converted to a fine, the world to "bakelite," the first completely combining phenol (carbolic acid) with for­ dry powder and then set into its final synthetic resin, which could be molded maldehyde, which produced a resinous shape by compression molding under heat and used in hundreds of different ways. byproduct. But the two chemicals reacted and pressure. This year marks the 80th anniversary of violently, and would-be inventors could Baekeland had begun making his Baekeland's material. Bakelite demon­ not control the reaction. In 1909, though, phenolic resin two years before, but was strated the enormous potential of synthetic Leo H. Baekeland, a Belgian-born chemist unable to produce anything remotely like resins and opened the door for the boom­ living in New York City, succeeded in con­ shellac. By working under certain reaction ing plastics industry in the 20th century. trolling the reaction and produced the first conditions, he could make an amberlike Commercial molding of natural "plastic" completely synthetic resin, which he mar­ resin, but didn't immediately recognize its substances began in 1845 in the United keted under the trade name of Bakelite. value as a plastics material. Then a rubber States. These natural substances were the Baekeland had already made his fortune manufacturer in Boonton, New Jersey, Ri­ forerunners for artificial plastics—gutta­ by introducing Velox paper, which was chard W. Seabury, showed that Bakelite percha (a milky juice from the Malaysian widely used in photography. He was born could be molded. As an experiment, Palaquium gutta trees), lac (a sticky mate­ in Ghent, Belgium in 1863, and after re­ Seabury mixed the Bakelite resin with as­ rial given off by scale insects in India and ceiving his doctorate in natural sciences in bestos fibers and molded a part for an elec­ Burma, it is the basis for shellac), and ce­ 1884, he remained as a professor of chemis­ trical instrument. mented asbestos (asbestos fibers mixed try and physics. Impatient with the aca­ Bakelite was clear or light golden col­ with an adhesive). From 1845 to the early demic life, he visited New York in 1889 ored, much like Celluloid, but it was much 1900s, industry used these natural "plas­ while on his honeymoon and decided to harder. Bakelite could be molded and ma­ tics" to mold brush handles, phonograph stay, first working for a photographic com­ chined, and had excellent electrical proper­ records, electrical insulation, and knobs. pany and then as the head of his own com­ ties as well. The material was hard and However, the natural materials were pany, the Nepera Chemical Company, tough, could resist high temperatures, and lacking—some were difficult to mold, oth­ making his Velox photographic paper. In had good dimensional stability. Bakelite ers broke easily, and the raw materials 1899 Baekeland sold the Velox process to also resisted swelling and dissolution in were difficult to obtain in the first place. Eastman-Kodak for one million dollars. water and all organic solvents. Adolf Luft In 1869, John W. Hyatt invented cellu­ Rather than relaxing as a millionaire for and L. Blumer (in 1902) and H. Story (in loid, the first major commercial plastic ma­ the rest of his life, Baekeland continued his 1905) had taken out patents for products terial. Hyatt, a printer in Albany, New chemical researches. In the next few years similar to Bakelite, but their materials were York, was seeking a substitute for ivory to he obtained patents for processes to dis­ far inferior. Baekeland himself invented be used in making billiard balls. He com­ solve salt in spent electrolytes and to make several other special phenolic compounds bined camphor with cellulose nitrate (ob­ more durable diaphragms by treating as­ for molding, casting, and laminating prod­ tained by dissolving cotton fibers in a bestos cloth with gummy iron hydroxides. ucts. The first thermosetting polymer, solution of alcohol) to create celluloid. Cel­ In 1905 he turned his attention to the Bakelite became popular for use in making lulose nitrate, also called pyroxylin at the manufacture of condensation products telephones, handles for pots and irons, time, had been used seven years before by from phenol and formaldehyde—as de­ pipe stems, radio cabinets, as well as many English chemist Alexander Parkes to create scribed in 1872 by Adolf von Baeyer— products in the electrical and automotive a plastic material, Parkesine. Parkes's asso­ intending to make a better varnish than industry. By 1930, the Bakelite Corporation ciate, Daniel Spill, invented a similar mate­ natural shellac. On February 8, 1909, operated a 128-acre plant at Bound Brook, rial, Xylonite, in 1867. Both of these Baekeland gave a lecture before the Ameri­ New Jersey. materials, though, were inferior to Hyatt's can Chemical Society, surveying previous Bakelite's wide industrial applications celluloid. attempts at putting the phenol- where natural resins, rubber, or celluloid Celluloid was flexible and durable—it formaldehyde reaction to industrial use, were not suitable, stimulated research to could be sawed and carved or made into which had only resulted in slow processes find other synthetic plastics. Today, pheno­ sheets, which led to the creation of many and brittle products. lic plastics are still used widely, and their commercial products such as combs, den­ "By the use of small amounts of bases," production technology has changed little tures, clock cases, and photographic film. Baekeland said in his lecture, "I have suc­ from Baekeland's techniques. But celluloid was very flammable and diffi­ ceeded in preparing a solid initial conden­ cult to mold. Chemists and inventors con­ sation product, the properties of which tinued to search for superior materials. In simplify enormously all molding opera­ KEVIN J. ANDERSON MRS BULLETIN/JULY 1989 69 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.202.226, on 26 Sep 2021 at 22:38:14, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1557/S0883769400062242.
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