Teflon as a Fluoropolymer

Concordia university

chem 208-EC

FALL 2008

TEFLON® A VERSATILE FLUOROPOLYMER

MATTHEW JACOBSON 9380396

tERM PROJECT

fRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14TH, 2008

Teflon® - A Versatile Flouoropolymer

Introduction

Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is considered to be the most slippery substance in existence. It is non-reactive to any chemicals. These two properties explain why PTFE is used for many different things. Water or any liquids do not affect PTFE as they do anything else. PTFE does not get wet. Nor does it react with many different corrosive chemicals. It can therefore be used as a coating on pots, pans and various cookware as well as coatings for pipes and containers that transport or store reactive chemicals. The most well-known trademark of PTFE is Teflon, a brand name of DuPont. DuPont is a company that delivers science based technological solutions that help people around the world. They employ 60,000 employees in seventy countries worldwide, and had 29.4 billion dollars of revenue in 2007. (1)

Teflon was discovered by accident in laboratory in New Jersey in April 1938 by Dr. Roy J. Plunkett. (2) Dr. Plunkett had been experimenting with frozen tetrafluoroethylene (TFE) when he found that it had turned into a solid that was PTFE. Upon discovering this product he investigated it and discovered the properties mentioned above. By 1945, the PTFE was registered as a trademark of DuPont and was sold commercially the following year. (2)

Manufacture and properties of PTFE

As previously mentioned, PTFE is manufactured by freezing TFE. By freezing it, it becomes the solid that is PTFE. In the original experiment performed by Dr. Plunkett, Iron was used as a catalyst to start the reaction. PTFE is a white solid at room temperature and it’s coefficient of friction is less than 0.1. PTFE can transmit light from any wavelength, including Ultraviolet and Infrared ranges. It does not, however absorb the light...