Teflon
...applications. Most notably, this fluoropolymer is widely used in cookware products as a non-stick coating. Fluoropolymers are polymers that contain atoms of fluorine, a chemical element belonging to the halogen family.(1)
The discovery of this substance was quite serendipitous. The history behind it comes from a scientist named Roy Plunkett who at the time was working for a company named Kinetic Chemicals in the year 1938. At the time, Plunkett was developing a new form of refrigerant, when one of his frozen samples had spontaneously polymerized into what we know today as Teflon®. (1)
Manufacturing of PTFE
The manufacturing of PTFE occurs by the polymerization of the chemical compound tetrafluoroethylene (TFE). TFE must first be manufactured in order to produce PTFE. TFE is manufactured by taking the chemical chloroform and combining it with two other chemicals hydrofluoric acid and fluorspar. Theses chemicals are carefully combined to yields an intermediate chemical named chlorodifluoromethane. This chemical is then heated in a chemical reaction chamber to the temperature of 590 to 900 degrees Celsius. This process is called pyrolysis, which refers to a special type of heating in the absence of oxygen. The heating results in a gas emitted which is captured, cooled under pressure and stored in liquid form. This liquid is then distilled. This yields the all important chemical TFE.
PTFE is manufactured in two different techniques. In the method of “suspension polymerization”, tetraflurothylene is polymerized in water. In this method, TFE is channeled into a reaction chamber filled with purified water and a reaction agent. This chamber is then mechanically shaken. Polymerization will occur and grains of PTFE will emerge from the water. The grains are then mashed into a powder. This powder is then mixed with a solvent and tumbled in a machine that resembles a...
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