PLEXIGLAS® is closely associated with the German chemist Otto Röhm and his company. Dr. Otto Röhm officially registered the brand PLEXIGLAS® in the trademark register on August 9, .
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What is PLEXIGLAS®?
Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), sometimes referred to as acrylic glass, is a synthetic polymer and transparent thermoplastic derived from methyl methacrylate. The starting material for PMMA is the monomer methyl methacrylate (MMA). The polymeric material shows good mechanical strength, exceptional optical properties such as clarity, brilliance, and transparency, and good weather resistance.
PMMA has diverse applications across various domains. It is commonly used as a sheet material, providing a lightweight and shatter-resistant alternative to glass. Additionally, it serves, e.g., as a casting resin, an ingredient in inks and coatings, and is used in signage, displays, LED screens, building windows, medical lenses, dental prosthetics, etc. thanks to its durability, compatibility with human tissue, and relevant biocompatibility in biotechnology.
The Start of the Brand
Otto Röhm ( &#; ) obtained his doctorate in on the subject of &#;On polymerization products of acrylic acid&#;. After completing his studies, he worked in at the pharmaceutical company Merck, as well as at the gasworks in Stuttgart, Germany, where he devoted himself to the processing of animal hides, which he treated with carbonated water.
Together with his friend and sales man Otto Haas, Otto Röhm founded the company Röhm & Haas OHG on September 6, , in Esslingen, Germany. The company initially focused on developing enzymatic agents for leather tanning. Recognizing the efficacy of enzymes from animal pancreases in tanning hides, Otto Röhm revolutionized the techniques then used in the leather industry. His process was significantly differed from the existing practices. The company expanded rapidly and in relocated to Darmstadt, Germany, and established its first subsidiary in the USA, providing support to tanneries worldwide.
Today, there are two separate entities: Röhm GmbH in Darmstadt and Rohm and Haas Company in Philadelphia, PA, USA, which was acquired by Dow Chemical Company, USA, for $15 billion in .
After founding a company for the manufacture of enzyme products with Otto Haas and generating sufficient profit for research purposes, Röhm returned to working on the topic of his doctoral thesis. He.assembled a team of researchers who, from the s onward, worked on the synthesis and polymerization of acrylic and later methacrylic acid. The team first developed LUGLAS, a transparent, rubber-like material, used as a safety glass for windshields, with which the Röhm & Haas company established its plastics division.
PLEXIGLAS® was then launched on the market in . In addition to Röhm, Dr. Walter Bauer, the head of the research laboratory, was involved in the development of PMMA in . However, various other laboratories were likely also working on the polymer during that time. Röhm & Haas OHG was awarded the gold medal at the World Exhibition in Paris, France, for the invention.
With the Nazi regime&#;s interest in PLEXIGLAS®, its importance for everyday objects in civilian life soon receded into the background, and it was mainly used in the armaments industry for glazing the cockpits of fighter planes and bombers. After the Second World War, many civilian applications were developed for PLEXIGLAS®, starting with illuminated advertising, roof glazing, and façade design.
The company Röhm & Haas was renamed Röhm GmbH in after the Haas family left the company. In , it became part of Hüls AG and, after several mergers, was absorbed into Evonik Industries AG. In , the methacrylate activities&#;and thus also PLEXIGLAS®&#;were spun off and have since been run as an independent company, for which the traditional name Röhm GmbH was chosen.
And Today?
The company states that it continues to uphold Otto Röhm&#;s vision by maintaining a strong focus on research. Recently, it opened a new research center at its site in Worms, Germany. Otto Röhm is credited in more than 70 patents as either the sole inventor or co-inventor.
In the realm of sustainability, work is underway to introduce a waste management strategy. PLEXIGLAS® can be recycled multiple times. The company has already introduced sustainable PLEXIGLAS® &#;proTerra&#; sheets, a sustainably produced, high-quality acrylic, and molding materials with a reduced CO&#; footprint.
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What Are Plastics and Where Do They Come From?
Plastic is a word that originally meant &#;pliable and easily shaped.&#; It only recently became a name for a category of materials called polymers. The word polymer means &#;of many parts,&#; and polymers are made of long chains of molecules. Polymers abound in nature. Cellulose, the material that makes up the cell walls of plants, is a very common natural polymer.
Over the last century and a half, humans have learned how to make synthetic polymers, sometimes using natural substances like cellulose, but more often using the plentiful carbon atoms provided by petroleum and other fossil fuels. Synthetic polymers are made up of long chains of atoms, arranged in repeating units, often much longer than those found in nature. It is the length of these chains and the patterns in which they are arrayed that make polymers strong, lightweight, and flexible. In other words, it&#;s what makes them so plastic.
These properties make synthetic polymers exceptionally useful, and since we learned how to create and manipulate them, polymers have become an essential part of our lives. Especially over the last 50 years, plastics have saturated our world and changed the way that we live.
The First Synthetic Plastic
The first synthetic polymer was invented in by John Wesley Hyatt, who was inspired by a New York firm&#;s offer of $10,000 for anyone who could provide a substitute for ivory. The growing popularity of billiards had put a strain on the supply of natural ivory obtained through the slaughter of wild elephants. By treating cellulose derived from cotton fiber with camphor, Hyatt discovered a plastic that could be crafted into a variety of shapes and made to imitate natural substances like tortoiseshell, horn, linen, and ivory.
This discovery was revolutionary. For the first time, human manufacturing was not constrained by the limits of nature. Nature only supplied so much wood, metal, stone, bone, tusk, and horn. But now humans could create new materials. This development helped not only people but also the environment. Advertisements praised celluloid as the savior of the elephant and the tortoise. Plastics could protect the natural world from the destructive forces of human need.
The creation of new materials also helped free people from the social and economic constraints imposed by the scarcity of natural resources. Inexpensive celluloid made material wealth more widespread and obtainable. And the plastics revolution was only getting started.
The Development of New Plastics
In Leo Baekeland invented Bakelite, the first fully synthetic plastic, meaning it contained no molecules found in nature. Baekeland had been searching for a synthetic substitute for shellac, a natural electrical insulator, to meet the needs of the rapidly electrifying United States. Bakelite was not only a good insulator; it was also durable, heat resistant, and, unlike celluloid, ideally suited for mechanical mass production. Marketed as &#;the material of a thousand uses,&#; Bakelite could be shaped or molded into almost anything, providing endless possibilities.
Hyatt&#;s and Baekeland&#;s successes led major chemical companies to invest in the research and development of new polymers, and new plastics soon joined celluloid and Bakelite. While Hyatt and Baekeland had been searching for materials with specific properties, the new research programs sought new plastics for their own sake and worried about finding uses for them later.
Plastics Come of Age
World War II necessitated a great expansion of the plastics industry in the United States, as industrial might proved as important to victory as military success. The need to preserve scarce natural resources made the production of synthetic alternatives a priority. Plastics provided those substitutes. Nylon, invented by Wallace Carothers in as a synthetic silk, was used during the war for parachutes, ropes, body armor, helmet liners, and more. Plexiglas provided an alternative to glass for aircraft windows. A Time magazine article noted that because of the war, &#;plastics have been turned to new uses and the adaptability of plastics demonstrated all over again.&#; [1] During World War II plastic production in the United States increased by 300%.
The surge in plastic production continued after the war ended. After experiencing the Great Depression and then World War II, Americans were ready to spend again, and much of what they bought was made of plastic. According to author Susan Freinkel, &#;In product after product, market after market, plastics challenged traditional materials and won, taking the place of steel in cars, paper and glass in packaging, and wood in furniture.&#; [2] The possibilities of plastics gave some observers an almost utopian vision of a future with abundant material wealth thanks to an inexpensive, safe, sanitary substance that could be shaped by humans to their every whim.
Growing Concerns About Plastics
The unblemished optimism about plastics didn&#;t last. In the postwar years, there was a shift in American perceptions as plastics were no longer seen as unambiguously positive. Plastic debris in the oceans was first observed in the s, a decade in which Americans became increasingly aware of environmental problems. Rachel Carson&#;s book, Silent Spring, exposed the dangers of chemical pesticides. In a major oil spill occurred off the California coast and the polluted Cuyahoga River in Ohio caught fire, raising concerns about pollution. As awareness about environmental issues spread, the persistence of plastic waste began to trouble observers.
Plastic also gradually became a word used to describe that which was cheap, flimsy, or fake. In The Graduate, one of the top movies of , Dustin Hoffman&#;s character was urged by an older acquaintance to make a career in plastics. Audiences cringed along with Hoffman at what they saw as misplaced enthusiasm for an industry that, rather than being full of possibilities, was a symbol of cheap conformity and superficiality.
Plastic Problems: Waste and Health
Plastic&#;s reputation fell further in the s and s as anxiety about waste increased. Plastic became a special target because, while so many plastic products are disposable, plastic lasts forever in the environment. It was the plastics industry that offered recycling as a solution. In the s the plastics industry led an influential drive encouraging municipalities to collect and process recyclable materials as part of their waste-management systems. However, recycling is far from perfect, and most plastics still end up in landfills or in the environment. Grocery-store plastic bags have become a target for activists looking to ban one-use, disposable plastics, and several American cities have already passed bag bans. The ultimate symbol of the problem of plastic waste is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which has often been described as a swirl of plastic garbage the size of Texas floating in the Pacific Ocean.
The reputation of plastics has suffered further thanks to a growing concern about the potential threat they pose to human health. These concerns focus on the additives (such as the much-discussed bisphenol A [BPA] and a class of chemicals called phthalates) that go into plastics during the manufacturing process, making them more flexible, durable, and transparent. Some scientists and members of the public are concerned about evidence that these chemicals leach out of plastics and into our food, water, and bodies. In very high doses these chemicals can disrupt the endocrine (or hormonal) system. Researchers worry particularly about the effects of these chemicals on children and what continued accumulation means for future generations.
The Future of Plastics
Despite growing mistrust, plastics are critical to modern life. Plastics made possible the development of computers, cell phones, and most of the lifesaving advances of modern medicine. Lightweight and good for insulation, plastics help save fossil fuels used in heating and in transportation. Perhaps most important, inexpensive plastics raised the standard of living and made material abundance more readily available. Without plastics, many possessions that we take for granted might be out of reach for all but the richest Americans. Replacing natural materials with plastic has made many of our possessions cheaper, lighter, safer, and stronger.
Since it&#;s clear that plastics have a valuable place in our lives, some scientists are attempting to make plastics safer and more sustainable. Some innovators are developing bioplastics, which are made from plant crops instead of fossil fuels, to create substances that are more environmentally friendly than conventional plastics. Others are working to make plastics that are truly biodegradable. Some innovators are searching for ways to make recycling more efficient, and they even hope to perfect a process that converts plastics back into the fossil fuels from which they were derived.
All of these innovators recognize that plastics are not perfect but that they are an important and necessary part of our future.
[1] Joseph L. Nicholson and George R. Leighton, &#;Plastics Come of Age,&#; Harper&#;s Magazine, August , p. 306.
[2] Susan Freinkel, Plastics: A Toxic Love Story (New York: Henry Holt, ), p. 4.
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