Bakelite (PF)

Bakelite is a thermosetting plastic, it’s made of resin and it was developed in 1907 by a Belgian chemist. Its main properties are hardness, rigidity and resistance to chemical products. Bakelite is electrically nonconductive and heat-resistant and this is why it’s used in radios, telephones (photo) and electrical insulators, and also in a wide variety of products as kitchenware, jewellery, pipe stems and children’s toys. Apart from this applications Bakelite is used for insulators in the electrical industry, motherboards and adhesives for plywood and so many more applications.

Here I attach a simple but clear video about the origin of Bakelite:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hF4XZxD37g

Teflon (PTFE)

Teflon is a synthetic material. Being exact it’s a thermoplastic polymer, made mainly of carbon and fluorine. This material is incombustible, resistant to chemical products and heat, with a low friction rate and it’s nonstick. It’s a white solid at room temperature but its mechanical properties degrade above 260°C.

It’s mainly used to nonstick surface of cooking utensils and laboratory apparatus, antifriction pieces of bearings and sheathings of high heats.  It can also be used in all these applications: planes and rockets covering because of its resistance to temperature changes. In the medicine sector it’s used for prosthesis because it doesn’t react with other substances or muscles and it’s also used for lining of pipes, as you can see in the photo. More applications are paints and varnishes.

Here I attach a video showing how to apply a Teflon tape:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zkh1IgBWvg&feature=related