Presented by Hafiz Dawood Khalid

Student ID f2019140024
Presented to Dr Toheed Akhter

UNIVERSITY OF MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY LAHORE

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Bakelite
A thermosetting polymer

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Table of content
Introduction


Property

Structure

Synthesis

Disadvantages

Application

Future of bakelite

References
Introduction
 Bakelite is a Cross-linked Polymer polymer made up of the
monomers phenol and formaldehyde. This phenol-formaldehyde
resin is a thermosetting polymer. [1]
  Developed by the Belgian-American chemist Leo
Baekeland in Yonkers, New York, in 1907.
 Bakelite was patented on December 7, 1909.[2]

 Bakelite was designated a National Historic Chemical

Landmark on November 9, 1993, by the American Chemical
Society in recognition of its significance as the world's
first synthetic plastic.[3]

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Properties
 hard, rigid, brittle

 molded very quickly

 Moldings are smooth

 retain their shape and are resistant to heat, scratches, and

destructive solvents.
 resistant to electricity due to its low conductivity.

 not flexible

 Usually brown

 Density is 1.3 g/cm3

Thermal conductivity is 1.63 [3]

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Structure of Bakelite

The chemical formula of Bakelite can be written as (C6H6O-CH2OH)n. [3]

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Synthesis of Bakelite

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Disadvantages
 Lack of uniform quality

 Lack of flexibility

 Variable strength

 Variable color

 Dimensionless

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Application

 Molded article such as radio, TV parts, combs, fountain pen, camera

body etc
 Decorative laminates, wall covering

 Electrical goods such as switches, plugs etc

 Impregnating fabric wood and paper

 As bonding glue for laminated wooden planks and in varnishes and

lacquers
 Sulphonated phenol formaldehyde resins are used as ion-exchange
resins. [4,5,6]

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Future of Bakelite

It is unlikely for Bakelite to change people's lives in the future because

now Bakelite's been replaced with better plastics such
as polyurethanes, thermoplastics, Styrofoam and many others. These
plastics are better than Bakelite because they are lighter, stronger and
more flexible.
Also Bakelite now gets used very less due to how expensive it is to
buy.  Bakelite is quite fragile compared to other plastics. There are
other plastics that are less expensive than Bakelite. Bakelite wouldn't
be as useful in the future as it was in the last few decades because of
other better plastics being invented. Even though Bakelite is not going
to be used in the future it is still the first synthetic plastic invented. 

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References
1. American Chemical Society National Historic Chemical Landmarks. "Bakelite: The World's
First Synthetic Plastic". Retrieved February 23, 2015.

2.  US patent 942699, Leo H. Baekeland, "Method of making insoluble products of phenol
and formaldehyde", issued December 7, 1909

3. Cook, Patrick; Slessor, Catherine (1998). An illustrated guide to bakelite collectables.

London: Quantum. ISBN 9781861602121.

4.  Plastics. Great Britain: Ministry of Supply. 1952.

5.  Le Couteur, Penny; Burreson, Jay (2003). Napoleon's buttons : 17 molecules that changed
history. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin. pp. 135–137. ISBN 9781585423316.

6. Froom, Phil (2015). Evasion and Escape Devices: Produced by MI9, MIS-X and SOE in World
War II. Schiffer Publishing. p. 228. ISBN 9780764348396. OCLC 1061720454

7. J .Aerosp. Technol. Manag.,Sao Jose dos Campos, Vol.2,,pp.169-182, May-Aug.,2010

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