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Polytetrafluoroethylene
(PTFE)
Polytetrafluoroethylene
(PTFE) is best known by the trade
name Teflon®
In
1938, DuPont chemist Dr. Roy J. Plunkett,
was working with gases
related
to Freon®
refrigerants, another DuPont product.
Upon
checking
a frozen,
compressed sample of tetrafluoroethylene,
he and his associates
discovered
that the sample had polymerized spontaneously
into a white, waxy
solid to
form polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).
PTFE is used to make non-stick cooking
pans and anything else that needs
to be slippery or non-stick. It is
made of a carbon backbone chain, and
each carbon (C) atom has two fluorine
(F) atoms attached to it.
PTFE is used to treat carpets and
fabrics to make them stain resistant.
It is also very useful in medical
applications. Because human bodies
rarely reject it, PTFE can be used
for making artificial body parts.
PTFE is so efficient it even repels
water; it is hydrophobic. In some
medical applications, this is a problem.
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