What Is Bakelite?

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What Is Bakelite?
What Is Bakelite?

Video: What Is Bakelite?

Video: What Is Bakelite?
Video: What is bakelite? 2024, March
Anonim

Bakelite is a type of plastic material. Bakelite is obtained by condensation of formaldehyde resins and phenols using alkali.

What is Bakelite?
What is Bakelite?

Invention

The idea of creating Bakelite as a non-combustible, ultra-strong and reliable plastic came from Leo Bakelando, an inventor from Belgium. It happened in 1909. For a long time, materials have only been used to meet the needs of various industries. Then it was used to create sharp hard materials for which Bakelite was the basis. But in the modern world, the material is used in completely different industries. A little later, the light weight and strength of the material made it the main one in the creation of inexpensive jewelry.

This material did not become popular immediately - only 30 years later, due to the improvement and expansion of the color palette. And Bakelite began to be used in other enterprises - where household accessories and jewelry were created. After the war, the material ceased to be popular, but in the 80s the popularity increased again. This was largely due to the designers from America.

Features of production

Bakelite is formed from the following materials:

  1. Formalin.
  2. Phenol.
  3. Acidic or alkaline catalysts.

The material is produced by oxidizing methanol at elevated temperatures of 650-660 degrees, and in this process silver is the catalyst. Another important component of plastic - phenol - is obtained from wood, oil products or brown peat. All the ingredients needed to create are poured into molds and heated to a temperature of 80 degrees.

An important point: the raw material "Bakelite A", if kept at room temperatures, has properties similar to those of rosin.

Properties

The main properties of the material include the following:

  1. Strength.
  2. Hardness.
  3. Insolubility of the form even with prolonged heating.
  4. Good solubility in alcohol.
  5. Durable coating.
  6. Thermal conductivity.
  7. Surface resistance to pressure and friction.
  8. Resistant to chemicals (except for sulfuric and nitric acid concentrates).

Among the shortcomings of the material are:

  1. Fragility.
  2. High density, due to which things turn out to be very massive.
  3. Harmfulness of the material due to a number of toxic compounds and components.

Differences between real and fake

There are the following ways to check the material for authenticity:

  1. Treating the material with any household cleaning product will result in yellow stains.
  2. The material, when exposed to hot water, begins to exude a smell similar to that of camphor.

It should be noted that it is very easy to make a fake - it is enough to have the necessary materials and conditions for this. Then you can make products at home. Most often, only testing allows you to identify and expose a fake. Without special equipment and qualifications, counterfeit products made from this material can be mistaken for original ones.

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