Bakelite

[HobieSport]

Bakalite:

A mixture of various plastics and  resins and sawdusts in the 1930s.

[Dan/Panther]

Hobiesport;

Are you asking if that is correct, or making a statement ?

D/P

[Dan/Panther]

Just off the top of my head, I would say.

Hard Rubber: Made from Carbon Black, Oils, and Laytex?
Bakelite: Made from, Resins, Sawdust, Carbon Black and other compound, maybe coloring.?

D/P
Anyone else have an opinmion or facts

[BDM]

Bakelite like plastic, came in many different chemical forms. It's more a generic term than anything else. Some argue that it's really a crude form of plastic. So, we could go anywhere with this is a sense.

Bottom line, it's a form of resin that came with different chemical make-ups. Depending on who was making it.

[benhutcherson]

Bakelite is really a trade name used to refer to one specific plastic polymer-specifically phenol formaldehyde resin.

What gives it its specific properties, especially the rigidity and resistance to heat(Bakelite is a thermosetting resin), is the fact that it's structure is much more three dimensional than most polymers.

By trade name, I mean that it was, at least at one time, trademarked, and Bakelite was only produced by the Bakelite company. This is similar to Teflon, which is the trade name for polytetrafluoroethylene(PTFE) made by the Dupont company. Another example would be Plexiglass or Lucite, the trade names for polymethylmethacrylate.

There was also Catalin, which was chemically the same as Bakelite, but I believe typically used a different filler material.

[McHeath]

I've read that some bakelite used asbestos as the filler, anyone know more about that?

[Dan/Panther]

I also thought asbestos was used in Bakelite, but another member said he doubted it.

D/P

[Bill Cahill]

Right, or, wrong, I'm the one who said I doubt that one of the fillers was asbestos.
In fact, I thought , and, spelling is likely wrong, I thought Urhea was one of the ingredients.
Bill Cahill

[bingster]

The primary filler used in bakelite is wood flour.  It may be that the assumption is made about asbestos being a component, given the fact that bakelite is so heat resistant.  But it's heat resistant in all it's forms, so asbestos wouldn't be necessary to impart that property.

Urea formaldehyde is a different, but related, plastic (bakelite is a phenol formaldehyde plastic).