Me neither …

I have no exact number. It’s sort of like asking how many types of bread there are. Plastics aren’t simply one material made the same way every time. Although plastics can be broken down into broad types or categories, there actually are thousands of different plastics, each with its own composition and characteristics. One plastic may block oxygen from reaching food. Another may be transparent like glass yet tough. Or stretch and bounce back in shape. Another may trap air inside itself. Or stop a bullet.

That’s why plastics are used in so many ways: they protect our food, cushion our fall, insulate our homes, improve our cars’ gas mileage, keep us dry when it’s raining … and many other things.

Plastics are a result of a mix of chemistry and engineering. As innovation marches on, scientists and engineers can create new plastics to do more and more things.

So even though the number of plastics is unclear, plastics makers tend to group plastics into two general classes: thermoplastics and thermosets.

Thermoplastics can be re-melted and essentially returned to their original state—sort of like the way an ice cube can be melted and then cooled again. Thermoplastics usually are produced first in a separate process to create small pellets; these pellets then are heated and formed to make all sorts of consumer and industrial products. Thermoplastics include plastics you’re likely familiar with: polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene, nylon, polycarbonate, and others.

Thermosets are usually produced and formed into products at the same time—and they cannot be returned to their original state. They generally are formed using heat (“thermo”) and become “set,” like a cooked egg. Thermosets include vulcanized synthetic rubber, acrylics, polyurethanes, melamine, silicone, epoxies, and others.

There are other categories of plastics:

Engineering plastics are … well … engineered to have enhanced mechanical properties and often greater durability than other materials. (They often—not always—are thermoplastics.) For example, polycarbonate resists impact. Polyamides like nylon resist abrasion. Some are combinations of plastics, such as incredibly tough ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene). The list of engineering plastics is quite long.

Plastic fibers are precisely that: plastics that have been spun into fibers or filaments that are used to make fabrics, string, ropes, cables—even optical fibers and body armor (such as Kevlar®). Most plastic fibers are strong, stretchable, and stable under heat (so fabrics can be ironed). Some of the most recognizable plastic fibers are polyester, nylon, rayon, acrylic, and spandex, although there are many more. (Side note: polyester sometimes is called polyethylene terephthalate—it’s also used to make plastic beverage bottles that can then be recycled into fibers for clothing, such as fleece jackets and t-shirts).

There are many more categories, such as coatings, adhesives, elastomers and rubbers, covering plastics that are used in everything from the space shuttle exterior to canned vegetables. I could go on (and have been known to), but let’s stop there for now.

Let me know if you have any questions here and I’ll get back to you.

X Games 16 take place July 29 to August 1 in Los Angeles, California, featuring more death-defying stunts and record-breaking tricks—and plastics once again will play a critical role in the sports gear and safety equipment.

Helmets
No matter the sport in Los Angeles, all competitors will have one piece of equipment in common—a helmet.

Most helmets have a hard, crack-resistant outer shell, usually made from a tough plastic such as ABS (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene). Helmet interiors contain plastic foam pads constructed from various plastics: EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate), polyurethane, polystyrene or polypropylene. The plastic shell and foam are designed to mitigate the impact by spreading the blunt force of a crash over a greater area of the head, as well as to reduce friction in a slide.

Skateboarding helmets (“half shell”) tend to be heavier and cover more of the head than traditional bicycle helmets, providing protection from the top of the forehead to the base of the neck, as well as for the ears. BMX and motocross riders—who spend much of their time flying through the air—usually wear full-face helmets that wrap around the chin, sometimes made of carbon-reinforced plastic composites that provide significant strength while keeping the helmets relatively lightweight.

Skateboarding
The sport most synonymous with the X Games—skateboarding—likely originated in Southern California in the mid-20th century as a pastime for surfers when the waves were weak. Skateboarding began moving from counter-culture to mainstream with the introduction of polyurethane (plastic) wheels in the early 1970s. The resilient, lightweight polyurethane wheels provide a smooth ride on any surface, and polyurethane remains the predominate material used today in skateboard wheels.

Even some of the boards (called decks) are made from plastic. The banana board, a thin, flexible polypropylene deck, became popular in the mid 1970s as skateboards were becoming much more maneuverable, enabling skateboard pioneers to develop new tricks. The plastic composite carbon fiber-reinforced deck was introduced in 2004— manufacturers claim it can stand up better than traditional maple plywood decks to the daily abuse of skateboarding.

Motocross
In motocross, a sport where much time is spent airborne or careening around corners at high speeds on a motorcycle, reliable protection is paramount.

Most professional motocross competitors wear what equates to body armor. While the protection is heavy-duty, the plastic materials are light and flexible. A serious layer of pads and braces made of Kevlar® (a plastic fiber) or plastic composites helps protect riders in the event of a crash and helps to support vulnerable joints such as knees and ankles. And underneath all that plastic gear? More plastic: moisture-wicking nylon or polyester (both plastics) jerseys with mesh panels to keep the athletes cooler and dryer. Even some of the motocross bikes incorporate plastic composite frames and wheel forks, enabling them to maintain strength and durability while weighing less than traditional metal frames.

Designers of Hyundai’s plug-in-hybrid concept car Blue Will have adopted carbon-fiber reinforced plastics and nano-composites for side sills, moldings and fenders in the body of the car. And in a further nod toward green car technology, bio-plastics are used for interior panels and parts, including a bike rack that is integrated into the trunk of the car, and recycled plastic bottles are used to make the headlight bezels.

Blue Will also incorporates new advances in battery technology by using new generation lithium-polymer batteries that are smaller and run cooler. So where are the plastics in these batteries? For lithium-polymer, read “lithium-plastic”. Lithium-polymer batteries are in wide use in cell phones today, and tomorrow they may power your plug-in car!

Hyundai is hardly alone in incorporating advanced plastics technology. Toyota’s concept hybrid FT-CH saves weight with a polycarbonate plastic back window that incorporates the rear lights, reducing the number of parts and weight. The futuristic model also moves the headlights away from the fascia and up near the windshield to reduce weight and eliminate the complex wiring that traditionally runs from the headlights to the electric system.

From new battery technology to lightweight car parts, plastics are helping make the next generation of hybrid cars possible.

That would bring “window shopping” to a whole new level.

Shop windows and all sorts of unlikely “displays” may one day be turned into touch screens by a new display technology: a transparent, thinner-than-paper, nanowire-embedded plastic film that can be placed on any non-conductive flat or curved surface.

There are myriad potential applications. Video game designers could use this technology to create 360° interactive screens for multiple players. A more basic gaming application, such as virtual air hockey, could appear at bars and night clubs – or even beach-front picnic tables since the innovative technology works in daylight or darkness, indoors or out, in the wettest weather—even if you’re wearing gloves.

This is not simply some future fantasy. A large interactive display installed at the busiest shopping and business area in the centre of Oslo, Norway, allows curious onlookers and adventuresome tourists to access local and historical information via a multi-lingual, web-based interface. And the “share” function lets people contribute information and photographs to the existing database, creating a continuously updating and evolving collection of public information. Pretty cool.

Welcome to the future made possible by plastics. Feel free to touch.

Lifestyle expert, Sissy Biggers, demonstrates how plastic innovations makes preparing food and entertaining easier than ever!

Aside from those great outdoor parties, summer is also the unofficial season for national and local food festivals across the United States. These gatherings of culinary professionals, wine connoisseurs and “foodies” are often the launching points for trends in cooking and entertaining.

Plastics Make it Possible SM and I were at this year’s FOOD & WINE Classic in Aspen where we got a glimpse of the latest and greatest plastic innovations that top chefs and wine experts are talking about. Here are some of our favorites:

• Sous-vide (pronounced /su vid): This gourmet cooking technique – embraced by world-renowned chefs, including Alain Ducasse, Thomas Keller and Paul Bocuse – involves placing food in vacuum-sealed plastic pouches and heating them to precise temperatures to seal in moisture and tons of flavor. Make sure you’re using a bag designed by the manufacturer to take the heat.
• Super Silicone: From basting brushes and spatulas, to oven mitts and bakeware, silicone is part of today’s innovative cooking and baking. It’s a flexible, durable, and easy-to-clean plastic product, and it can withstand high temperatures – some up to 800 degrees Fahrenheit. Best of all, silicone bakeware’s non-stick surface helps cut down on the need for added fts.
• Wine Packaging Innovations: Some of this season’s most exciting wines now feature plastic corks to keep them fresh. And some wines are now being bottled in handy, shatter-resistant plastic bottles that are lighter and easier to tote to outdoor events. As an added plus, the lighter weight means less energy needed to ship bottles.

What I love about the summer season is that entertaining can be more relaxed and informal. My top tip: plan ahead to ensure your food and party supplies are prepared and (most importantly) portable so they’re easy to grab and go.

Happy Entertaining!

Sissy

Download the PDF of the November Newsletter

Engineers at Bristol University in the U.K. have created plastic technologies that could one-day lead to the development of airplanes that can literally fix themselves while they are still in the air.

Interestingly, the British engineers were inspired by human biology; their plastic technology emulates the healing process in living organisms.

The self-healing plastics have micro tubes of epoxy resin embedded inside fiber-reinforced polymers. When a plane stretches and cracks, the resin in these tiny tubes oozes out, hardens, and patches the crack.

Because most of the wear and tear on airplanes is too small to be perceptible to the human eye, the Bristol engineers also dyed the resin with an ultraviolet pigment. To determine if or where the plane has healed itself, mechanical crews simply turn on the black lights, find the patches and perform a more permanent fix.