Katharine Morrison

11-6-2014
History of Plastics

The discovery and implementation of plastics is one of the most crucial advances in
materials in the modern age. Plastics are a specific type of polymer, which is a chain of
monomers. These monomers are generally hydrocarbons. Plastics have been historically
synthesized from raw materials such as resins, though most modern plastics come from
petroleum and petroleum byproducts. Addition and condensation reactions then occur to
polymerize the monomers occurring in the raw material. These reactions generally occur in the
liquid or gas phase, though they can occur in the solid state. The polymers are then chemically
altered with additives that give them the properties desired for the material. To get the final
product, the plastics are molded and shaped into useful forms with a method called extrusion,
which applies constant pressure to the plastic. The two major subsets of plastics, thermoplastics
and thermosets, are distinguished by their moldability. Thermoplastics can be reshaped once they
are deformed, while thermosets cannot.
While some major advances in plastics occurred before the 1930s, including John
Wesley Hyatts work with celluloid and Leo Baekelands first all-synthetic polymer, bakelite, the
discoveries that really pushed plastics to the front of the materials industry happened during and
after World War II. In this time period, plastics were critical to military supplies; due to a
shortage of raw materials, America was forced to rely heavily on plastics. Fake rubber, clothing,
weaponry, and electrical wiring could now be cheaply mass-produced. The innovations in
manufacturing that allowed military materials to be plasticized and inexpensive also made
plastics affordable and accessible to civilians. Plastics soon came to replace metals after the war
in machinery such as automobiles. Polyethylene and polypropylene, two of the most popular
plastics today, were also discovered/invented briefly after World War II. Polyvinyl chloride,
another common plastic, was discovered in the nineteenth century but did not come into popular
use until the 1950s. Durable, cheap, light, and corrosion-resistant, polyvinyl chloride is useful in
a variety of fields and industries.
Though plastics are a useful and inexpensive resource, they necessitate the use of
petroleum, which is not a sustainable or environmentally sound resource. Bioplastics are an
alternative to standard petroleum-based plastics. Formed from renewable biological materials
such as vegetable fats, corn starch, and other agricultural byproducts, bioplastics produce fewer
greenhouse gases and decompose much more rapidly than petroleum-based materials. The two
most common bioplastics are polyactide acid and polyhydroxalkanoate. Producing little waste
and fewer pollutants than more popular plastics, bioplastics are a feasible solution to the
problems posed by plastics in the twenty-first century.

Works Cited:

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Nov. 2014.
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"The History of PVC." PVC. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2014. <http://www.pvc.org/en/p/history>.
Washam, Cynthia. "Plastics Go Green." ChemMatters (n.d.): n. pag. Apr. 2010. Web. 6 Nov.
2014.