Plastics. Plastics are resinous substances molded, cast, or extruded into desired shapes. Until 1869, when John Wesley Hyatt invented celluloid by combining cellulose and camphor, the only plastics were such natural materials as shellac, hard rubber, and gutta percha, used for daguerreotype cases, buttons, and other small artifacts. Celluloid, a sheet material shaped with heat, replaced ivory or tortoiseshell in combs and accessories. Celluloid addressed such issues as the uncertain supply of raw materials, the need for precisely dimensioned manufacturing materials, and the demand for democratization of goods. From the first, its imitative qualities signified both technological ingenuity and second‐rate cheapness.

After finding a shellac substitute for electrical insulation in 1907, Leo Baekeland realized that his durable phenolic resin had many applications—from pipe stems to skillet handles—and commercialized it as “the material of a thousand uses.” While Bakelite became a household word during the 1920s and 1930s, other plastics appeared: colorful cast phenolic, pastel‐colored urea formaldehyde, cellulose acetate, vinyl, and transparent acrylic—all promoted as utopian materials derived from such abundant sources as coal, water, and air. Independent custom molders, who made marketable parts and products, experimented in the 1930s with injection molding of thermoplastics, which eventually almost replaced compression molding of thermoset resins. A journal (Modern Plastics, 1925) and a trade association (The Society of the Plastics Industry, 1937) served the fledgling industry.

The DuPont corporation's introduction of nylon in 1938 marked a major transition. Rather than trying to commercialize a random laboratory gunk, Wallace Carothers and Julian Hill set out to synthesize a precise substitute for silk. Nylon's success as a fiber for stockings and as a molding resin signaled the dominance of large chemical companies. The industry came to maturity during World War II, providing cockpit enclosures, mortar fuses, even bugles. Its wartime advertising promised a plastic miracle world, but homefront substitutes reinforced an image of cheapness. Many new plastics—among them polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyester—were commercialized after the war. Mirroring an expanding economy, a host of new products—Tupperware, hula hoops, fiberglass chairs, Formica laminate, bubble packaging, dry‐cleaning bags, Teflon‐coated pans—moved so quickly into everyday life that moviegoers laughed nervously in 1968 when a booster in The Graduate told Dustin Hoffman, “Just one word. Plastics. There's a great future in plastics.”

Although vinyl go‐go boots and inflatable domes expressed the youth culture of the 1960s and 1970s, distrust of plastic developed into hostility. Journalists and writers expressed fears of toxicity, flammability, and overflowing landfills (themes used to great effect by the novelist Norman Mailer). “Plastic,” once a symbol of humanity's power to transcend natural limits, became instead a metaphor of technology out of control and a pejorative adjective meaning fake or phony. Eventually, as engineering resins and composites revolutionized sports equipment and other consumer goods in the 1980s and 1990s, plastic regained its good name. At the same time, as cultural attention shifted from intractable natural materials to more malleable plastics, and finally to virtual environments electronically synthesized by computer, the concept of plasticity embodied a traditional American faith in an ability to remold the world.
See also Chemical Industry; Consumer Culture; Mass Production.

Bibliography

J. Harry DuBois , Plastics History U.S.A., 1972.
Jeffrey L. Meikle , American Plastic: A Cultural History, 1995.

Jeffrey L. Meikle

Plastics

The term plastic can be used as both an adjective and a noun. As an adjective, the term refers to any material that can be shaped or molded, with or without the application of heat. In this respect, objects such as soft waxes, asphalt, and moist clays are said to be plastic.

As a noun, the term describes a natural or synthetic polymer. A polymer is a material whose molecules consist of very long chains of one or two repeating units known as monomers. As an example, the synthetic polymer called polyethylene consists of thousands of ethylene units joined to each other in long chains. If the letter E is taken to represent an ethylene unit (monomer), then the polymer polyethylene can be represented as:

-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-

Although the term plastic is strictly defined as either a natural or synthetic material, it is probably understood by most people today to refer

primarily to artificial materials. Substances such as nylon, Styrofoam™, Plexiglass™, Teflon™, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) are examples of such materials.

Thermoplastic and thermosetting plastics

Plastics can be subdivided into two large categories: thermoplastic and thermosetting. The former term refers to a material that can be melted and shaped over and over again. Examples of thermoplastics include acetal, acrylic, cellulose acetate, polyethylene, polystyrene, vinyl, and nylon.

A thermosetting plastic, in contrast, can be melted and shaped only once. If it is then heated a second time, it tends to crack or disintegrate. Examples of thermosetting plastics (or just thermosets) include amino, epoxy, and phenolic and unsaturated polyesters.

Words to Know

Composite: A combination of a plastic and one or more additives that has special properties not possessed by the plastic alone.

Monomer: A fundamental unit of which a polymer is composed.

Polymer: A substance composed of very large molecular chains that consist of repeating structural units known as monomers.

Thermoplastic: A polymer that softens when heated and that returns to its original condition when cooled to ordinary temperatures.

Thermosetting plastic (or thermoset): A polymer that solidifies when heated and that cannot be melted a second time.

Additives

Very few plastics are used in their pure state. Many different materials known as additives are added to improve their properties. Products consisting of pure plastics and additives are known as composites. For example, the strength of a plastic can be increased by adding glass, carbon, boron, or metal fibers to it. Materials known as plasticizers make the plastics more pliable and easier to work with. Some typical plasticizers include low-melting solids, organic liquids, camphor, and castor oil. Fillers are materials made of small particles that make a plastic more resistant to fire; attack by heat, light, or chemicals; and abrasion. They also can be used to add color to the plastic.

[See also Polymer ]

vi·nyl / ˈvīnl/ • n. 1. synthetic resin or plastic consisting of polyvinyl chloride or a related polymer, used esp. for wallpapers and other covering materials and for phonograph records: light-reflecting vinyls can be hung in the usual way. ∎ vinyl used as the standard material for phonograph records: fans had to wait almost a year before the song eventually appeared on vinyl. 2. [as adj.] Chem. of or denoting the unsaturated hydrocarbon radical −CH=CH₂, derived from ethylene by removal of a hydrogen atom: a vinyl group.

vinyl plastics group of thermoplastics used in molded products, flexible tubing, material for raincoats, and laminated safety glass. Vinyl plastics are polymers and copolymers of vinyl derivatives (i.e., derivatives of ethylene, H ₂ C[symbol]CH ₂ ), e.g., vinyl chloride (H ₂ C=CHCl) and vinyl acetate (H ₂ C=CH-OOC-CH ₃ ). Polyethylene may be considered the simplest of the vinyl polymers, and polyvinyl chloride is an important member of this group. Polytetrafluoroethylene, or Teflon, is also sometimes classed as a vinyl polymer.

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