Teflon was Invented by Accident
The man who accidentally invented Teflon was Dr. Roy Plunkett.
After receiving his BA, MS, and eventually PhD in organic chemistry, Dr. Plunkett took
a job with DuPont, in Jackson New Jersey.
He was subsequently assigned to work on synthesizing various new forms of refrigerant, trying to
find a non-toxic alternative to refrigerants like sulfur dioxide and ammonia.
According to DuPont, in 1938, 27 year old Dr. Plunkett and his assistant, Jack Rebok,
were experimenting with one such potential alternative refrigerant, tetrafluorethylene
(TFE).
Dr. Plunkett subsequently created around 100 pounds of TFE and stored the gas in small
cylinders.
On April 6, 1938, upon opening the valve on one of the supposedly full pressurized cylinders
of TFE that had previously been frozen, nothing came out, even though by its weight, it seemed
to still be full.
The two then decided to investigate further by cutting the cylinder open.
Once they managed to get it open, they discovered that the TFE gas inside had polymerized into
a waxy white powder, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) resin.
Ever the scientist, Plunkett then proceeded to run tests on this new substance to see
if it had any unique or useful properties.
Four of the most important properties of this substance discovered were that it was extremely
slippery (one of the slipperiest substances known to man), non-corrosive, chemically stable,
and that it had an extremely high melting point.
These properties were deemed interesting enough that the study of the substance was transferred
to DuPont’s Central Research Department and assigned to chemists that had special
experience in polymer research and development, while Dr. Plunkett was then promoted and transferred
to a separate division that produced tetraethyl, used to boost gasoline octane levels.
Three years later, the process and name of Teflon were patented and trademarked.
Four years after that, Teflon first began being sold, initially only used for various
industrial and military applications due to the expense of producing TFE.
By the 1960s, various forms of Teflon were being used in a variety of applications, such
as stain repellant in fabrics, electrical wire insulation, and the like.
It was also in the 1960s that Teflon began being used in its most publicly known application,
as a coating for non-stick pans.
Today, Teflon or other brands of the same product are also used in windshield wipers;
carpets and furniture (as a stain repellant); light bulbs; coating on glasses; in various
hair products; used in semiconductor manufacturing; automotive lubricant; igniters for solid-fuel
rocket propellants; and in infrared decoy flares, among other things.
Bonus Facts: • Dr. Plunkett’s roommate in college,
Paul Flory, went on to win the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1974.
• The Guinness Book of World Records once listed Teflon as the slipperiest substance
in existence.
This has since been shown to be incorrect, actually being the third slipperiest substance.
Although, it still is the only known substance that a gecko’s feet cannot stick to, because
of Teflon’s resistance to van der Waals forces.
Van der Waals forces are the sum of the attractive and repulsive forces between molecules.
You can learn more about this in Episode #81 of this podcast: Why Geckos’ Feet Can Stick
to Almost Anything • Molecularly, Teflon is one of the largest
molecules known to man and consists of carbon and fluorine.
Each carbon atom has two fluorine atoms attached.
It turns out, when fluorine is part of a molecule, it actually repels other matter.
The bond between the fluorine and carbon is also extremely strong which makes Teflon very
non-reactive to other chemicals, which is why it was used in the Manhattan Project as
a coating for the valves and seals of containers holding the extremely reactive uranium hexafluoride.
• Dr. Plunkett retired from DuPont in 1975 and was inducted into the Plastics Hall of
Fame in 1973 and eventually into the National Inventors’ Hall of Fame in 1985.
He died on May 12, 1994.