Discovered accidentally in 1938 by Du Pont Chemists, PTFE has since been used to make, amongst many other things, gaskets, bearings, non-stick surfaces, seals and lubricants.
The discovery came about during Du Pont's research into alternatives to substances like ammonia and sulphur dioxide as refrigerants, specifically Freon(R). On opening a new tank of tetrafluoroethene gas at the Jackson Laboratories, New Jersey, USA, Du Pont chemist Dr. Roy J. Plunkett (1911-1994) was intrigued when no gas came out of the container. On further investigation, a white, waxy solid substance was found in the cylinder which was of course the polymerised polytetrafluoroethene.
The polymer that Dr Plunkett stumbled upon was found to have remarkable chemical and physical properties. Virtually chemically inert, resistant to extreme temperatures and said by Du Pont to be "the most slippery substance in existence", Teflon(R) was first produced on a limited scale in 1941, and was used soon after by the Manhattan Project in containers for the highly corrosive UF6 during uranium isotope separation. PTFE's uses can now be seen in such diverse contexts as textile manufacture, industrial coatings, and of course the famous non-stick frying pans, introduced in the USA in 1961.
References 2, 4, 5.Why not visit Du Pont ltd's Teflon(R) Home Page to find out more about Teflon(R) products?
Teflon(R) is a registered trademark of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co.
Tom Westgate - cha99tdw@sheffield.ac.uk (document modification date: 8th May 2000)