A C&EN SPECIAL REPORT
n construction,
plastics roof
coatings reflect high
temperatures,
Inside as well as out, plastics can
Plastics Prove plastics moisture barriers replace the more conventional papers, and V V H E N V O U T H I N K O F SUBURBIA, y o u
plastics s t r u c t u r a l materials may provide complete homes of t o m o r r o w 68
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probably think of long stretches of sparkling n e w h o m e s or campus-type industrial plants. Unless you're thinking of the $1.2 billion worth of construction products (including coatings) which u s e d plastics last year. Furthermore, you may recall that construction took nearly 15% of t h e plastics output in 1 9 5 6 . A s a basic material industry, plastics n o w hold t h e No. four s p o t outranked by steel, lumber, and glass. An output of 4 billion pounds in 1956 doubles t h e 1952 figure. A n d the approximately $40 billion-per-year building industry uses o v e r one half billion pounds of plastics a year. Last year, 511 million p o u n d s went into decorative a n d functional uses in both new a_nd renovated buildings. For this year, predictions are t h a t 540 million p o u n d s will go t h e same way. Top three spots in the construction plastics poundage race are h e l d b y paint, wire
be decorative and functional.
Twelve companies contributed to the decor of Monsanto's futuramic home
eir Building Potential Building industry swallows nearly 15% of nation's plastics output, but this is only an appetizer coating, a n d plywood bonding in that order. Not too far b e h i n d are flooring and wall t i l e a n d covering. Now t h a t builders and architects are turning toward plastics more and more, plastics makers feel that they're really only at t h e beginning. Monsanto's Michael F . X. Gigliotti figures t h a t construction plastics' end uses may be valued at $ 2 billion a year b y 1966. Even t h o u g h t h e physical volume of building is declining right now, long range predictions indicate that the increase over the next 10 years will still be s u b s t a n t i a l - n e a r l y 5 0 % , thanks to more h o u s i n g sta.rts. T h e jump in dollar volume m a y hit 66%. And the plastics industry hopes t o ride the crest of the next d e c a d e ' s building wave. Various plastics, a b o u t 17 groups in all, are u s e d in construction—sometimes several for the same application. Moisture barriers, for example, can be made of polyethylene and of styrene,
if it is applied properly. Lighting fixtures come in styrene, vinyl, and acrylic plastics. Phenolic resins a n d urea get a large chunk of the market, thanks to their role in plywood bonding. And paints, top user of plastics in building, are styrene, acrylic, poly (vinyl chlor i d e ) , poly (vinyl a c e t a t e ) , and alkyd based. Urethane, vinyl, a n d phenolic foams, rigid a n d flexible, are heralded as some of the most versatile materials of them all. T h e y can be used as structural elements, insulators, and a s cushioning. F o a m e d plastics production will hit 29 million pounds vs. 16 million pounds in 1956, says Paul G. Roach of U . S. Rubber, head of t h e cellular plastics division of the Society of the Plastics Industry.
"First Choice" Materials Some plastic products a r e now generally accepted as the "first choice" ma-
terials of construction in many cases. These include wire insulations, switch gears, counter and table tops, domes, skylights and lighting fixtures, moisture barriers, floor and wall coverings, and surface coatings. In t h e s e categories, plastics are in a position equal with metals and wood as a major class of materials. But for structural applications, which are only now beginning t o get off the ground, builders have yet to be sold on their properties. Some of the more significant ones are: • Light weight, with a h i g h strengthto-weight ratio. • Resistance to corrosion, wear, molds, and fungi. • Resistance to heat, moisture, and electricity can be controlled. • Ease of forming and adaptability to production line or factory assembly methods. OCT.
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1957
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69
• Complete color penetration light controlling properties.
and
Rather than waiting for the construction industry to adopt plastics by the process of evolution, the major plastics makers have come up with programs to speed the change. They're going about it in two ways. First is to use plastics wherever possible within the framework of conventional structure and design; second is to make new uses for plastics by radical departures from existing designs. Two projects in 1957 serve to show the first concept. One is Monsanto's inorganic chemicals research laboratory (C&EN, April 29, page 20) near St. Louis. T h e lab shows the most thorough use of plastics in a commercial building anywhere in the world. Applications range from an almost 100'.Y plastic exterior to about 80 interior plastic uses. And each new plastic application was first tested by simulated performance tests. So far, a wealth of cost and performance data have been gathered and more will come during the life of the building. In residential building, the home of the year of the National Association of Home Builders Research Institute uses many plastics available today. Some of these are nylon hardware and plumbing fixtures, acrylic room dividers, a factoryapplied neoprene roof, finish, chlorosulfonated polyethylene in outdoor patio tile, polyester film wall coverings, and others. Many companies played a part in putting the house together, including Du Pont, Dow, Masonite, Armstrong Cork, Borg-Warner, Philco, and Frigidaire. To see w h e r e plastics can fit into tomorrow's homes, look at Monsanto's "House of the Future" in Disneyland. Here, 12 companies cooperated in putting their products on display. The 12 include Monsanto, Chemstrand, Mobay, Armstrong Cork, LibbeyOwens-Ford, National Lead, OwensCorning Fiberglas, Bell Telephone, Crane, Sylvania, U. S. Time, and Yale & Towne. Not all make plastics, but all of them use some in many of their products or supply materials used with plastics. Among major ehem?' .1 companies, there is a sharp awareness of plastics' potential. Monsanto, one of the leaders in promoting construction plastics, has two programs: a plastics-in-housing research program at MIT and a structural plastics program within its own plastics division. Both have the same goals: 70
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OCT.
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1957
• Present-day educational and inflating projects. Between Monsanto and outside engineering and construction companies, more and more plastics are being used and studied. Reports have been published. A major aim here is to publicize proved applications hy developing and publishing engineering data, by working with building code groups, and by encouraging experiments with plastics. • Short-range future demonstration and evaluation projects. Monsanto uses its own physical facilities and construction programs as experimental kshops. • L o n g range future concepts. Part of Monsanto's study with MIT falls into this area, and the company has a program with Pratt Institute, too.
American Cyanamid, especially through its Formica subsidiary, is a big contributor to plastics use in buildings. And Hooker has Hetron, a fireretardant polyester resin. Hetronbased panels are relatively widely used in institutional buildings, the company claims. For the NAHB model home, Du Pont has come up with a reportedly unusual way to cover walls with polyester film. A recent entrant into construction plastics is General American Transportation, which has introduced a polystyrene plastic panel and has also opened a new plastics lab. Fabricator's Role
Plastics fabricators aren't being left out either. Among major producers, agreement exists that fabricators are interested. But as to how keen their Bakelite, a division of Union Carbide, Interest is, opinion is pretty well dihas been working on construction vided. How far they can go in actively plastics for over 2 5 years. Since 1932, promoting plastics for building is reBakelite has been exhibiting at various lated to how much practical construcbuilding industry trade shows, and the tion engineering data producers can company is now building a plastics develop. A big boost in this direction house. In a new lab which Bakelite is will come from the Manufacturing building at Bound Brook, N. J., a lot Chemists' Association's new plastics-inof plastics are also being used. In building program. The program will many plants Union Carbide has used be conducted in close cooperation with plastics to prove the worth of these the fabricators, says director William materials, says t h e company. Work Demarest. on phenolics-based coatings and varAnd fabricators have another probnishes was started b y Bakelite even lem. According to George R. Hermach before 1932. And when newer plastics of Architectural Plastics (which is trywere developed, Bakelite studied each ing to stimulate plastics use to the of them as materials of construction. same extent that other building maThese include different kinds of resins terials enjoy), fabricators are usually for smooth surface floor coverings. less able to be heard than producers. Dow, in the construction plastics Many, he notes, are underfinanced and market for more than 12 years with have production problems. And they Styrofoam for thermal insulation (per- are in no position to act as a vo.'ce for imeter, floor, wall, and roof), is kicking promotion. off a new thermoplastic sheet flashing Armstrong Cork finds that where product—a vinylidene chloride co- there is a real advantage, fabricators polymer. T h e material, claims Dow, adopt plastics readily. In line with this has outstanding mechanical properties. opinion is the emphasis on poly (vinyl It conforms to irregular contours, is easy chloride) pipe by major pipe makers, to p u t into place without prefabricat- and one of the major quonset h u t maning, and is priced competitively with ufacturers is now producing polyester conventional materials. panels. Many fabricators are themFor two years, Koppers has been selves experimenting with plastics, and working toward using polystyrene foam in the long run, Armstrong Cork notes, panels in conventional houses. The they must share t h e chemical industry's company doesn't make or sell the interest or fall behind in the business panels, only the plastic. Koppers and race. Rensselaer Polytechnic are working together in gathering engineering da*a on using the panels in roofs, interior M a n y Hurdles Yet partitions, and outside walls. Test But even with the emphasis on conhous'ng programs are under way. And struction by plastics producers a n d some Kopper's new polyethylene plant uses builders and architects, major hurdles foam sandwich panels in its office still stand before the plastics industry building. can see its products start their road to
full use in building. According to Gigliotti. t w o main stumbling blocks are:
I
Where Plastics go in the Construction Industry
• Building officials a n d architects are unaware of the available plastics and 1 their properties. • The engineer and architect do not understand the language of the plastics industry, a n d vice versa. And everyone is concerned with the misuse of plastics. A few misapplications, says an industry leader, could easily prejudice architects, builders, code officials, a n d the general public against plastic building products. Other problems include distributing plastics to the building industry, an incompatibility with existing standards and codes, a lack of experimental uses which c o u l d provide the performance information needed, and a natural hesitancy t o proceed in the area of the "unknown." Here, the high cost of doing the first j o b worries some people. For instance, price of the first rigid vinyl luminous ceiling was $8.00 a square foot. Now it costs less than $3.00, w h i c h is competitive with other ceiling materials. Some long strides in the direction of familiarizing builders and designers with plastics have been made, thanks t o several building conferences in the past few years. As far as building codes are concerned, t h e Manufacturing Chemists' Association and the Society of the Plastics Industry drew up a model code. This m o d e l code permits using plastics in many major building applications where it isn't possible now. So far, the Southern Building Code Congress has adopted the MCA-SPI code. Action automatically makes the code standard in several southern states, and may eventually hold in all areas of the South. Also, t h e Pacific Coast International Conference of Building Officials, cover, ing 21 western states, has adopted the code a n d is scheduled t o give formal endorsement soon. Bounding out the country, t h e Building Officials Conference of America, covering the Midwest and Northeast, indicates that changes in their existing plastics code chapter will be considered. Still another boost comes from Underwriters Laboratories. U L has agreed t h a t perhaps a different approach to plastics testing is needed, or that a different method of interpretation of results should be made. To do this, U L has set up a n industry advisory conference which includes four people from t h e chemical industry.
(Millions o f Pounds)
1
Uses
1956 1957
J
T y p e of Plastics
§
Paint
8 7
90
Styrene, alkyd
J
W i r e coating
82
86
Vinyl, polyethylene
|
I
Plywood bonding
86
! 82
Phenolic, urea
J
J
Flooring
65
70
Vinyl
i
W a l l tiie a n d covering
61
60
Styrene, vinyl
j
1 1
Moisture b a r r i e r and i n sulation
41
49
Polyethylene, styrene
j
I 1 1
Laminates, includes counter tops, j but not furniture
30
33
Phenolic, melamine
]
Piping
18
20
Polyethylene, vinyl
J
1 13
16
Styrene/
1
11
15
Polyesters
I
Lighting fixtures
1
Structural panels
I 1
Bath & plumbing fixtures
1
W i r e devices
Total
10
10
9
9
51 1
540
acrylic,
PVA,
vinyl, acrylic
J 1
Styrene, phenolic Urea, rene
phenolic,
sty-
Over the next five years, liere's where you will see more and more plastics in building use, say producers:
• Roofing—featured at last month's Building Research Institute conference in St. Louis.
• Plumbing systems (fixtures, sewer lines, septic tanks). • Construction aids, such a s concrete framing pans. • Electrical conduits. • Sandwich panels. • Partition walls.
C a n the chemical industry "sell" the building industry on the benefits of plastics? There's a good chance that it will. For as William Scheick of BRI says, "When they (the chemical industry) hear down on housing research, things are bound to happen." OCT.
28,
1957
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71
