Friday 10 May 2013

Polyester - the facts


One of the most popular and widely used synthetic products today is polyester. Polyester is a very tough material that is widely manufactured and used in a variety of products. Due to its widespread use, polyester also comes in a variety of colours and sizes. This variety means it is available in many shapes and forms for the millions of people that have different needs and uses for it.

Polyester is known for being a strong, durable product. It cannot be stretched or shrunk in the wash, and can dry quickly, among other things. All of these things are qualities that make polyester attractive as a textile material. Additionally, polyester can work as a good insulator, and it is for this reason many pieces of outdoor apparel are made out of polyester, as the polyester helps to keep the person wearing the piece of clothing warm.

Polyester is the most used fibre in the United States of America, and its history in the US stems back to the company Dupont de Nemours, who were the first to commercially produce polyester in the country. They trademarked a variety of polyester forms, such as Dacron and Mylar in the year 1952.

When you trademark a name, you have to give the product two separate names. The first name, which in the case of Mylar was polyester film, is the product name, and the second name, which in this case was Mylar, is the actual brand name. This rule of giving a product two names must be followed by any company or person wishing to trademark a product, and so it was not only the Dupont de Nemours company that had to follow this rule.

In the 1970s it was quite common for polyester suits to be manufactured, along with other forms of polyester clothing. However, the uses of polyester have expanded over the decades, and now types of polyester can also be used in rope manufacturing among other things. Additionally, a type of polyester called PET is used in the manufacture of plastic drinking bottles.

You can find polyester in a variety of forms - usually as fibres, as films, or as plastics. PET (otherwise known as polyethylene terephthalate) is the polyester that is usually used to make fibres, and is also well known for its use in the production of plastic bottles. PET is also a recyclable material, which is good news for the environment.

Scientifically speaking, PET is made by mixing together a variety of chemicals with a catalyst. This reaction of chemicals is often conducted at very high temperatures and within a vacuum space.

You would also be surprised at just how many products and materials that we use today contain polyesters. From the curtains in your living room, to your underwear, sports clothes, and everyday outfits, polyester is truly everywhere. In keeping with being a versatile material that can be used in an assortment of products, it comes as no surprise that PET and its various forms are also used in other products.

Aside from clothes and water bottles, PET is used in microwave packaging, items of stationary, and in the creation of some industrial parts as well. A subset of PET, PETF, can be found in various photographic domains, from films from x-rays to films in videotapes and cameras, whilst PETG is a polyester used when manufacturing cards.

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