History and Physical Chemistry of HDPE.pdf

1 Chapter History and Physical Chemistry of HDPE Lester H. Gabriel, Ph.D., P.E. CHAPTER 1: HISTORY AND PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY OF HDPE History of HDPE and HDPE Pipe At the very close of the 19th century, German chemist Hans von Pechmann noted a precipitate while working with a form of methane in ether. In 1900, German chemists Eugen Bamberger and Friedrich Tschirner identified this compound as polymethylene, a very close cousin to polyethylene. Thirty years later, a high-density residue was created by an American chemist at E.I. du Pont de Nemours Company, Inc., Carl Shipp Marvel, by subjecting ethylene to a large amount of pressure. Working with ethylene at high pressures, British chemists Eric Fawcett and Reginald Gibson created a solid form of polyethylene in 1935. Its first commercial application came during World War II, when the British used it to insulate radar cables. In 1953, Karl Ziegler of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute (renamed the Max Planck Institute) and Erhard Holzkamp invented high-density polyethylene (HDPE). The process included the use of catalysts and low pressure, which is the basis for the formulation of many varieties of polyethylene compounds. Two years later, in 1955, HDPE was produced as pipe. For his successful invention of HDPE, Ziegler was awarded the 1963 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Today, plastic materials used for pipes are classed under thermosetting or thermoplastic resins. Plastic highway drainage pipes belong almost entirely to the thermoplastic group (most commonly, high-density polyethylene (HDPE), PVC and ABS). They exhibit attributes of toughness, flexibility, chemical resistance and non-conducting electrical properties. Thermoplastic highway drainage pipes have been used for highway drainage since the early 1970s. Since then, growing out of applications for agricultural drainage, more HDPE drainage pipes have been installed than all other plastic pipes combined. They are being used for storm sewers, perforated under