1. PAST, PRESENT &
FUTURE OF
PLASTICS
-Presented by
P. Deepak Kumar

2. CONTENTS
• What is Plastic?
• Why Plastic?
• History of Plastic
• Present Scenario of Plastic
• Future Scenario of Plastic
• References

3. What is Plastic?
• Any formless material that can be molded
or modeled under heat or pressure.

4. Why Plastic?
• Economic
• More durable
• Good elastic strength
• Easy to molded

5. History of Plastic
• In 1862,
Alexander Parkes
made first plastic
“Parkesine” from
cellulose.
• Buttons, comb,
pen

6. • In 1868, John Wesley
Hyatt blended
nitrocellulose with
camphor and formed
“Pyroxylin”.
• Used as Billiard balls,
Shirt collars, eyeglass
frames and pen
housings.

7. • In 1872, Eugen Baumann created
“Polyvinyl Chloride”.
• Waldo L. Semon, showed the use of PVC

8. • In 1909, Dr. Leo
Baekeland invented
“Bakelite”.
• Phenol-formaldehyde
resins were called
Bakelite.
• First totally synthetic
plastic (1907)
• Replaced rubber for
insulation in electrics

9. • In 1920, German Hermann Staudinger
published his theories on “poly addition”.
• Nine year later published the
polymerization of polystyrene.

10. • 1930’s research on
polymer chains at
DuPont Chemical
Department
• Published theory of
poly-condensation
• Invented Neoprene
and Nylon

12. Present Scenario Of Plastic
• Plastic used as “artificial hip”.
• The plastic liner is made from Ultra High
Molecular Weight Polyethylene and acts
like a bearing.
• The UHMWPE is extremely tough,
abrasion resistant and has a very low
coefficient of friction.

14. • Fire safety
equipment's.
• Helmet is made of
“polyetherimide”.
• Micro plastic
medical parts.

15. • Automobile exterior body panel. Example
Saturn by General Motors.
• Telephone wires
• Cell phone bodies

16. • The new materials science field known as
“nanoscience”.

17. • Products like:
• Nylon (Ropes, tent and parachute straps,
belts, etc.)
• Teflon (Polytetrafluoroethylene
(PTFE),First used for artillery shell covers)

18. Future Scenario Of Plastic
• 3-D Body Part Printing: Researchers are
using a layered assembly manufacturing
technique—called "3-D printing"—to
create medical devices and implants using
plastics.

19. • Bacteria-Resistant Plastics: These plastics
have "non-stick" surfaces that bacteria
aren't attracted to, which could help
prevent contamination from bacteria
"biofilms."

20. • OLEDs (Organic Light-Emitting Diodes)
are used for the illumination of mobile
phone, PDA and e-book reader displays –
with polymers as the source of
illumination.

21. References
• inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blpla
stic.htm
• http://blog.eun.org/futurenergia/2011/03/w
hat_is_the_future_of_plastics.html
• www.lle.mdx.ac.uk/site/docs/dt/Historyofpl
astics.html
• www.americanplasticscouncil.org/benefits/
about_plastics/history.html

22. Thank You for Attention