f
As Materials of Construction
THE
purpose of this symposiuni is to focus attention on a new class of engineering materials. The synthetic organic’ plastics are assuming an important position among the older structural materials, such as wood, concrete, and the metals. These new materials provide design engineers and architects with combinations of properties which were not obtainable with older materials. Lightness of weight coupled with resistance to corrosion and ease of fabrication into complex shapes make the organic plastics particularly interesting to designers of industrial plants and equipment. The store of human experience in the use of wood and steel has been accumulating for centuries. I n building structures from these materials we can draw on this fund of knowledge t o capitalize on the advantages and avoid the limitations of each material. No such extensive background is available t o designers of structures from plastics. Less than a century has elapsed since the first synthetic organic plastic entered the service of mankind. This was cellulose nitrate plasticized with camphor, 1292
which in 1872 was considered t o be a candidate ’* material of construction” for billiard balls! Plastics served many useful functions during the next seventy-five years. Phenol-formaldehyde plastics, in particular, became widely recognized as important materials of construction in the electrical and communications industries. During the last quarter century, many new plastics have been introduced and put to work in functional applications. The production of plastics now approaches that of aluminum or of copper. The papers in this symposium are a contribution to the background knowledge of plastics as structural materials. The papers show that plastics are slowly making their way in the chemical industry. It is significant that plastics frequently make their entry into an operating plant through the maintenance section, whose task it is t o keep the plant operating. When other materials of construction prove inadequate, maintenance engineers may turn, in desperation, t o plastics t o keep the wheels turning. Designing plastics into new plants, however,
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Vol. 47, No. 7
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requires engineering data, ensured sources of supply, and specifications-all well established for metals, ceramics, and concrete but in early stages of development for most plastics. Designers of chemical plants cannot wait for these t o be completed. They must specify conventional materials, realizing that the?- may be doomed for early
The Symposium on Plastics as Materials of Construction was a presentation of the ACS Divisions of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry and Paint, Plastics, and Printing Ink Chemistry at the 126th Meeting of the American Chemical Society, New York, N. Y.
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Juky 1955
EDK4RD R . COOPER, Chuirmun
Equipment Applications COMPONENTS FOR MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT J. R. Boyer and W. R.Myers..
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VESSELS J. A. Neumann Bockhoff
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and F. J.
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Engineering Aspects and Evaluation EVALUATING PLASTICS FOR THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY C. Howard Adoms and Robert A. McCarthy ENGINEERING PLASTICS INTO CHEMICAL PLANTS H. E.Atkinson.. UNIVERSITY RESEARCH O N ENGINEERING PROPERTIES OF PLASTICS Frederick J. McGarry.. MODIFIED STYRENES FOR STRUCTURAL APPLICATIONS Robert H. Steiner. TIME- AND TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENT MODULUS CONCEPT FOR PLASTICS C. H. Weber, E. N. Robertson, and W. F. Bartoe.. HEAT-RESISTANT POLYESTER LAMINATES W. Cummings and M. Botwick.. DESIGN OF PLASTIC STRUCTURES FOR COMPLEX STATIC STRESS SYSTEMS A.A.MacLeod
replacement while properly chosen plastics would be permanent and frequently lower in cost. These symposium papers emphasize the need for design data which can be used with assurance.
PIPING, VALVES, AND DUCTS Raymond 8. Seymour.
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PETROLEUM PRODUCTION Bryant W . Bradley..
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TEXTILE FIBERS PLANTS W.A.Haldeman and E. F. Wesp.
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FOOD PROCESSING PLANTS Lawrence J. Turney..
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