Bakelite
Bakelite
Does anyone out there have a background in chemistry/polymers, or an interest in collaborating on small-scale bakelite production?
- Tyler
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- Location: Farmersville, TX
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Jack,
I am interested. I have a degree in Chemical Engineering, but I'm not sure it would be of any value. I don't use it any more, and I'm not sure how much of it I have retained...closer to none than anything probably.
At any rate, I'm interested in at least learning what you have in mind, and I'd like to get my hands on some to play with for stems.
Tyler
I am interested. I have a degree in Chemical Engineering, but I'm not sure it would be of any value. I don't use it any more, and I'm not sure how much of it I have retained...closer to none than anything probably.
At any rate, I'm interested in at least learning what you have in mind, and I'd like to get my hands on some to play with for stems.
Tyler
Tyler Lane Pipes
http://www.tylerlanepipes.com
http://www.tylerlanepipes.com
Well, here's the deal. Bakelite is made from phenolic resin, formaldehyde, and sulfuric acid. Heating those together in the appropriate proportion yields a prepolymer which can be molded or cast under further heating to create the cross-links that yields the final polymer. There are other ingredients that add color, flexibility, heat resistance, and whatever other properties are necessary. Those other ingredients are, I presume, present in the proprietary material that was first Bakelite and then Catalin. I don't know what those ingredients are. Formaldehyde is really nasty stuff, and dealing with the fumes may prove to be the final obstacle, but one could make enough polymer in a test tube for one stem, given proper knowledge of what sort of pigments and plasticizers to add. That's the sort of info I am looking for.
It seems odd that there is such demand for vintage Bakelite jewelry, yet no current production. I suspect that the environmental and health objections are the reason, but I still wonder if some company that specializes in custom polymers couldn't be paid to recreate Bakelite rod, if it turns out that home production is impossible/illegal.
It seems odd that there is such demand for vintage Bakelite jewelry, yet no current production. I suspect that the environmental and health objections are the reason, but I still wonder if some company that specializes in custom polymers couldn't be paid to recreate Bakelite rod, if it turns out that home production is impossible/illegal.
- Tyler
- Site Supporter
- Posts: 2376
- Joined: Thu Nov 23, 2006 8:00 pm
- Location: Farmersville, TX
- Contact:
Jack,
I'm not sure how many hours I might have to do anything with this, but I do have access to a high school chem. lab. complete with a hood for working with toxic materials. Honestly, my interest would probably lie more in finding a place to make the stuf than do it myself, but if we find out that it is not too time intensive, I'd be willing to give something a go.
Tyler
I'm not sure how many hours I might have to do anything with this, but I do have access to a high school chem. lab. complete with a hood for working with toxic materials. Honestly, my interest would probably lie more in finding a place to make the stuf than do it myself, but if we find out that it is not too time intensive, I'd be willing to give something a go.
Tyler
Tyler Lane Pipes
http://www.tylerlanepipes.com
http://www.tylerlanepipes.com
It's lovely stuff, harder than ebonite but softer than acrylic, polishes beautifully, takes on an attractive patina. It's unobtanium, though -- I lucked into a couple of feet of it and haven't found any more. Dealing with formaldehyde is a difficulty, but not so much as discovering how to manipulate its properties -- from what I read, the unalloyed polymer is rather brittle. Making the prepolymer is a fairly common lab exercise in college organic chemistry classes. What we need is some source of information for the commercial process.random wrote:I'd be interested in playing with a chunk to get a feel for its properties. Once you guys get production going and Tyler is selling it, please let me know. <g>