For thousands of years, humans can only use the gifts of nature: metal, wood, rubber, resin… However, after the birth of table tennis, people suddenly discovered that with the power of polymer chemistry, we can assemble carbon atoms at will and hydrogen atoms, creating new materials never before seen on Earth.
The synthetic nitrocellulose technology for making celluloid is a step in the transformation of plastic technology from 0 to 1, and in today’s view, this is just a small step in a long march. Hyatt performed a “modification reaction” on cotton fibers dissolved in nitric acid, so that these macromolecular celluloses were broken and reorganized in a new way, and ordinary plant fibers were reborn. reborn. However, cellulose itself is a polymer, and celluloid only restructures cellulose, and does not produce cellulose at the molecular level. Once we learn to manipulate molecules, what kind of magic material will we get?

We don’t have to wait too long. Just 4 years after Hyatt’s chance encounter with celluloid, German genius chemist Adolf von Baeyer used formaldehyde and phenol to synthesize a completely new plastic: phenolic resin. At the same time, a whole new discipline of chemistry was opened: polymerization. In the field of organic chemistry, polymerization is a kind of black magic that turns a stone into gold. It intertwines formaldehyde molecules and phenol molecules into a huge net, and finally gives birth to a big man who can’t even recognize his father formaldehyde and his mother phenol. henolic Resin.

In the industrial field, phenolic resin plastic is called “bakelite” because it is insulating, anti-static, and high temperature resistant. It is an excellent material for making insulating switches, so that you can turn on the lights every day without worrying about electric shock. From the crystal clear appearance, it is difficult to see the amazingness of this product: every piece of bakelite is a large molecule, a molecule that is huge enough to be held in the palm of your hand!
In our impression, the molecule seems to be a very small thing since ancient times. A drop of water contains about 1.67 × 10 21 water molecules. The raw materials of phenolic resin, formaldehyde and phenol, are small and unremarkable molecules, with molecular weights of 30 and 94, respectively, but if you want to ask the molecular weight of phenolic resin, you may have to draw twenty or thirty zeros after 1.

Seeing is better than seeing it. If you want to experience the overwhelming terrifying power of the polymerization reaction, you might as well spend 10 seconds watching the explosive polymerization reaction after heating p-nitroaniline and concentrated sulfuric acid. The small half-bowl solution in the picture on the left slowly expands and smokes after heating, and the p-nitroaniline molecules cross-link and polymerize at an exponential growth rate. Finally, the volcano erupts in less than 1 second, and a majestic tree grows out of nowhere. Optimus Prime. Although this pillar of darkness looks strong, it is actually just a crisp and porous sponge structure formed by p-nitroaniline sulfonate, and it will be ashes with a slight squeeze.

Thanks to the polymerization reaction, in just a few decades, a large number of well-known “poly” plastics have emerged in the chemical industry: polyamide, polyurethane, polyethylene, polystyrene, polytetrafluoroethylene, polypropylene, Polyester……
What? You say you don’t know these weird names? It’s okay, I’ll translate it for you.
Polyamide (also known as Nylon): Developed by DuPont in 1930, the world’s first synthetic fiber, it has not been surpassed by competitors for nearly 100 years.

Polyethylene: The most frequently used plastic in daily life.

Polystyrene (also known as Poly Dragon): a must for takeaways and couriers

Polypropylene: heat-resistant up to 140°C, and does not react with acids, alkalis, and salts, and is the first choice for microwave lunch boxes.

Polytetrafluoroethylene (also known as Teflon): Known as the “King of Plastics”, it can work normally in the range of -180 ~ 250 ℃, and is almost insoluble in all solvents, even in boiled aqua regia. Just apply a thin layer to the bottom of the pan to transform it into a tall non-stick pan

Polyester fiber (polyester): full of elasticity, wrinkle-resistant, non-iron, mildew-resistant, almost all clothes bought on a treasure have it, especially sportswear.

Polyurethane: Honored by Bayer in 1937, it has high strength and low thermal conductivity, and is often used in wall insulation. But you may be more familiar with a 0.01 mm book in your daily life.

If I told you that everyone’s food, clothing, housing and transportation are inseparable from plastic, maybe many people will look at me with incredible expressions. Yes, it’s too much, too much to see, too much to forget, we live in a plastic world every day. We cook in plastic pots, eat in plastic boxes, drink from plastic bottles, wash in plastic basins, take baths in plastic bathtubs, wear plastic fiber clothes to go out, drive 50% plastic cars to work, open plastic Laptop, typing this article on a plastic keyboard — and you’re reading it poking at your plastic phone.
So far, thousands of plastics have been produced around the world. Precise numbers are impossible to count, and there is no statistical significance, because dozens or hundreds of new plastics come out every year, and every minute and every second, R&D personnel improve the formula and manufacturing process of plastics in the laboratory. Since the first mass-produced plastic celluloid, we’ve made 7 billion tons of plastic, and if it were made into a rope, it could wrap the earth around the world—a lot? We now produce 1 billion tons of plastic every 3 years. For the 140-year-old plastic chemical industry, it’s just the beginning.
When humanity goes extinct, alien archaeologists will find traces of our existence in the geological record — plastic rock formations. Plastic merges with rocks, gravel, and shells, and sinks into the sea to become the eternal memory of the earth. Just as calcium carbonate deposits marked the Cretaceous and dinosaur fossils marked the Jurassic, this plastic rock formation marked a new geological age: the Anthropocene. Optimists believe that making plastic is as great a progress as drilling wood to make fire and polishing stone tools. It represents that human beings finally understand the nature of matter and have the ability to break through the shackles of nature and build an unprecedented new world; while others, hate it. Call it the “white terror”, “the invention of death” and “the human nightmare of the 21st century”.
The technology that shaped the ping pong ball

Our company specializes in customizing plastic products, we have been dealing with plastic products for 23 years, and our experience is very sufficient