Grabill, Ernest C.

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 The Knowledge Bank at The Ohio State University Ohio State Engineer Title:  Plastic City -- 2045 A. D. Creators:  Grabill, Ernest C.  Issue Date:  1945-03  Publisher:  Ohio State University, College of Engineering  Citation:  Ohio State Engineer, vol. 28, no. 4 (March, 1945), 13-14, 28-29.  URI:  http://hdl.handle.net/1811/36139  Plastic City-2045 A. D.By ERNEST C. GRABILL, Ch. E. IVIs a plastic bathtub with plastic plumbing in aplastic bathroom in a plastic house exaggeratingthings a little bit? Well, perhaps, but neverthe-less, one school of thought says that in the post-war world, everything under the sun, from pent-houses to your favorite helicopter, will be madefrom plastics. That idea, however, seems to beslightly out of perspective, and while plastics arevery versatile materials, the day of plastic citiesseems to be far distant. At present, let us assignit to the next century.Since the discovery of celluloid in 1869, anduntil the discovery of bakelite in 1909, an averageof one new plastic every twenty years was intro-duced by the industrial research laboratories ofthe United States. But since the discovery ofbakelite, and particularly in the last twelve years,at least one new plastic has been introduced eachyear.There are literally hundreds of various formsof plastics, but as yet, there is no one all-purposeplastic. In fact, if the present trend continues,plastics will be developed for specific types ofwork, and not general application. The merereason that a plastic is good for one thing doesnot necessarily recommend it for something else.Plastics do not differ from wood, metals, or othermaterials in this respect.Another factor to consider in this post-war"plastic city" dream is the obvious fact that plas-tics will have to compete on the post war marketwith very cheap materials—cheap in comparisonwith the present price of the cheapest plasticwhich is about twelve cents per pound. Untilthis price takes a sharp nose-dive, plastics cannever hope to replace metals and wood as a con-struction material. Furthermore, for membersof reasonable size, plastics do not possess suffi-cient strength for heavy structural purposes. Itmust bq noted here, though, that certain lamin-ated products do possess high strength, but theplastics industry does not generally consider lam-inated products as true plastics. They consist ofa plastic or resin used as a "bonding" agent forseveral layers of fabrics, wood, or paper. Plasticbonded plywood has found considerable use in pre-M a r c h , 1 9 4 5fabricated houses and airplanes. One widespreaduse of the material will be for small planes andhelicopters after the war. It is expected thathelicopters will be used as a major piece of equip-ment on large orchards and farms for use inspraying.Even though there probably will be no plasticcity in our generation, no industry has muchbrighter a future than the plastics industry. War-time expansion of this industry has resulted invery great improvements in the older types, suchas nitrocellulose, and in the development of a hostof new types, such as plastacele, laminated "lucite-butacite," vinylite resins, and many we haven'teven heard of, and probably won't hear of untilthe end of hostilities. The "age" of novelty plas-—Courtesy Bakelit.e Corporation.This picture shows or pair of shoes that were "tipped"with Vinylite resin-coated fabric. They are a pair oftested shoes; they were subjected to as hard atreatment as a nine-year-old boy can give them torover two months. The toes, the points of greatestwear, are as good as new, while the leather uppersshow considerable wear.P a g e 13—Courtesy of Bakelite CorporationVinylite rigid sheets form permanently accurate andnon-warping calculating and measuring instruments.They take printing to close tolerances.tics has already passed, and plastics now have tostand solely on so-called "engineering" qualities:ease of fabrication, strength, lightness, economy,and not the least, beauty and color.Metal shortages caused by the war have givencertain plastics an opportunity to "substitute"for the metals, and in numerous cases, the metalsnever again will be used for that purpose. Forinstance, in 1941, approximately 500,000 poundsof metals, mainly tin, were saved by using pyralincellulose nitrate and other plastics for tippingshoe-laces. .Now, 500,000 pounds is not a verygreat tonnage of metal, as gross tonnages go, butin 1941 and since, saving even 1000 pounds oftin was quite an achievement. These plastic tips,moreover, have been found to be stronger, morecompact, and will outlast metal tips.Another plastic substitute (or "alternate," asthe plastics industry prefers) is the use of a hardcellulose nitrate plastic for metal in pens andpencils. The estimated metal saved is about 64pounds per thousand pencils. Recently, a nawplastic lithographic printing plate was developed.This plate, it is claimed, saves from three toeight times its weight in aluminum and zinc.These plates, now pre-empted by the Army andgovernment agencies, are made from polyvinylalcohol resin. They are used by the Army's mo-bile field printing units. They give about thesame number of impressions as metal plates, andcarry about 25% more ink without smudging.P a g e 14Some other "invasions" of plastics into themetal world are oil-resistant tubing and gaskets,covers to protect openings in airplane and tankengines during shipping and assembly, oil-viewersand filler caps for cream separators, door knobs,bathroom fixtures, bearings for juice extractors,spacers for milling operations, and rotors forultracentrifuges. A composite 1942 electric re-frigerator has about fifty plastic parts; for ex-ample, door medallions, evaporator door nameplates, thermometer case or housing, evaporatordoor panel, and handle. It is interesting to notethat the 1942 automobile had about 120 plasticparts; airplanes vary from twenty for smallplanes to a hundred or more on large four-motor-ed planes. A substantial number of these aremetal replacements.The plastic which makes up the "blisters" onfighting planes is a "lucite-butacite" laminatedplastic. It is methyl methacrylate resin. Acry-lic resins are characterized by their colorlesstransparency (a tremendous aid to navigation),adhesive qualities, and elasticity. Laminated"lucite-butacite" is shatter-resistant, light-weight,and easily formed and mounted. In a numberof tests, DuPont engineers shot 50-caliber ma-chine gun bullets through semi-cylinders made ofsolid acrylic resin and the laminated plastic.They found that at —40°F., and with a pressure(Please turn to page 28)—Courtesy of Jiakelite CorporationFabric-based laminated plastics are used as pumpstators, which are resistant to such hydrocarbons aspropane, butane and most vegetable oils.T h e O h i o S t a t e E n g i n e e rPLASTIC CITY(Continued from page 14)differential* of 7.5 p.s.i., the acrylic semi-cylinderruptured completely, while the laminated one didnot. In fact, the size of the hole left in the lam-inated one was so small that the rate of pressureloss was small and enabled quick patching. Athigher temperatures, laminated "lucite-butacite"is completely self-sealing. This substance ab-sorbs a greater percentage of ultra-violet raysthan solid acrylic and is of value; in minimizingsunburn. It also absorbs a large portion of theheat-generating infra-red rays.This dissertation about plastics certainly wouldnot be complete without some mention of nylon.Nylon is a plastic as well as a synthetic fiber. Assuch, its largest use has been as brush bristles,It is a superb material for this application, sinceit will not rot or dry out and wears longer thannatural bristles. Nylon brushes are famous forthe ease with which they may be cleaned. It isused in over 90 per cent of the quality tooth-brushes and in greater than 50 per cent of thehairbrushes in this country. Nylon bearingshave been made and used successfully, but this isstill pretty much in the experimental stage. Theonly lubricant needed is water. The newestaddition to the nylon family is a thermo-plastic,a plastic whose form is not necessarily perma-nent. It may be reheated and reformed a num-ber of times. Most thermo-plastics soften atabout 160°F. The highest softening point ob-tained was around 280 °F. until the new nylon wasdiscovered. It does not soften until the temper-ature reaches about 450 °F. This temperature isnear the charring point for thermosetting mate-rials. Thus nylon is a thermoplastic which hasovercome the fundamental failing of this kind ofplastic and has the basic advantage of the thermo-setting type.Nylon is very light and at the same time verytough. A molding about the size of a match boxcan be stepped upon, and though it gives a little,it comes back to its original shape.Fabrics coated with nylon are somewhat shiny,but wear well and do not crack or scuff. It canbe made to resemble kid or calf, and may be usedfor shoes, handbags, and luggage. Other uniquebut important and essential uses of nylon includeP a g e 2 8 T h e O h i o S t a t e E n g i n e e rmedical uses, such as brain plates, cups to rclinearthritic hips, sutures, artificial eyes, contactlenses, artificial fingers, and windows for oxygentents.The list could go on and' on, but again, realizethat nylon is not a "cure-all"—we cannot buildhouses out of it—yet—but the list of specificuses keep growing. There are nylon, bakelite,pyralin, styron, vinylite, durite, indur, and a hostof other trade names—all signifying some par-ticular type of plastic—developed for a specificuse. All of them, old and new, will be availablefor building the better world tomorrow that weall envision today.M a r c h , 1 9 4 5 P a g e 2 9

Plastic City -- 2045 A. D.

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Plastic City -- 2045 A. D.

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