Teflon

History

Teflon was an accidental creation in 1983, by a former resident of New Carlisle, a young boy name Roy J. Plunkett, who took a new job in DuPont. He had done PhD from Ohio State University in 1936. In DuPont Company Plunkett area was refrigerants. In 1930s most of the chemicals that are used for refrigerants are hazardously explosives. They use chemicals like ammonia and oxides of sulfur as refrigerants. These are pretty toxic compounds and been leaking out of the refrigerants and cause harm to the nearby environment. So, the Company DuPont and General Motors comes up with an idea to produce non-flammable refrigerants, a kind of Freons named as Refrigerants 114. He was given a task detect non-toxic and non-combustible coolants, that can easily be used in refrigerants. One day he opened the fresh tank of containing TFE gas which he wants to deliver for experimentation. When he weighed out these tanks he found some material of white powder appearance. After a large number of attempts, he found a slippery powder, today it is known as Teflon. This is a fun kind of accidental experiment for scientist, which keeps scientist to work for long hours for further experiments to find out the compound structure and its properties.

Applications

Where we find out the use of Teflon polymer:

General use: Due to high stability and strength Teflon contains wide range of applications and helpful over vast areas of life. From tiny substance to large monuments are the wonders of Teflon. Its use can never be old. Scientists are looking for its further processing to produce more stable products of Teflon. Some important applications of Teflon are discussed below;

Cookware: We find a large number of non-stick cookware. It is the need of the modern world. It is one of the remarkable applications of Teflon and become widely used material around the globe. Its hydrophobic nature makes it comfortable coatings for non-stick pans. We ever wonder why this food not ever stick to the non-stick pans, but it stick to the small metal coating surface of the pans. The reason is that it exhibit non adhesive property which makes its surface non-stick. On the other hand due to high melting point, Teflon is the best material to use in the high performance cookware.

Fabric: Whether it may any kind of apparels, bed sheets, carpets or any other kind of fabric around the globe contains some amount of Teflon in their manufacturing to make it water resistance or to provides some protection form stains. Teflon fabric protectors can be used to enhance fabric durability without compromising into fabric weight, color look or flexibility. The textile industry gives a particular name to this polymer, GORE-TEX, and it contains special properties that breathable clothes possible. Whenever our body produces sweat, it emits steam that easily moves through these clothes, whereas liquid from outside is not allowed pass through this waterproof fabric.

Aerospace Industry: It is quite fascinating to explore new world and it is a highly demanding task. Several harmful kinds of cosmic rays are continuously interacting with the aircrafts and cause them certain vulnerabilities. This issue can be solved by introducing high performance fluoropolymers that incredibly enhance their durability and conductivity to satellites. It improves the cables that are helpful to transmit images from space back to earth.

Food Industry: PTFE has a wide range of applicability in food making and their packaging. It provides them high chemical resistance and high mechanical properties. PTFE plays a vital role in food safety during its manufacturing process and preserve its quality for a long time usage.

Automobile Industry: Just because of its efficiency, durability, high temperature and heat resistance capacity, it is highly useful in automobile industry. Along with providing durability and protection to the heavy machinery, Teflon also enhances the working quality of several parts of vehicles such as exhaust system, axels, and other exposed parts to the environment.