In 1869, an Albany printer discovered how to mix nitrocellulose with camphor under high pressure to yield a hard, shiny, moldable substance which he and his brother called celluloid. This discovery was the dawn of the Plastics Age, but it represented only the first step in establishing a new technology. Examines the 20 years of laboratory trial and error that produced the first artificial plastic, as well as the equally difficult challenge of selling the product to a public that wasn't sure what to use it for. He shows how the struggle to find uses for the new material and to create markets for it was as significant as solving the problems of making it. Illustrated.

In their review, the authors summarise the state of the art in ABS polymers with major sections on synthesis, characterisation, mechanical properties and stabilisation. There are also sections on the most important speciality grades and a summary of the important commercial blends containing ABS as a component. An additional indexed section containing several hundred abstracts from the Rapra Polymer Library database provides useful references for further reading.

Shows why plastics, in aggregate, have become a toxin to humans, wildlife, and the planet, and proposes novel solutions that involve neither traditional recycling nor giving up plastic. "Plastics!" In the 50 years since Dustin Hoffman's character in The Graduate was instructed that this was the career field of the future, we have not been able to escape this ubiquitous but poorly understood material. Author Jack Buffington argues that the plastics crisis is careening toward a tipping point from which there will be no return. There is still time, however, to do something about this crisis if we have the imagination and the will to move away from the failed policies of the past. This book is the first to propose a new model for linking our synthetic world to the natural one, rather than seeking to treat them as separate entities. The key is supply chain innovation. Buffington presents five market-based solutions based on this principle that will allow consumers to continue to use plastic, which has in many ways enabled our way of life. Alongside these proposed solutions, he also addresses the proliferation of plastic as we know it—growth that, if left unchecked, will lead to a "planetary crisis," according to the United Nations—and considers how the material itself might be adapted for a sustainable future.