Polypropylene is undoubtedly one of the polymers with the greatest potential for the future. This fact is justified by the growing habit of its markets, even in the most acute times of crisis. Within most of the sectors in which new applications are found, they give rise to a structural material, considered one of the most attractive due to the advantageous conditions of economic competitiveness, which characterize polypropylene as a member of the group of thermoplastics of great consumption compared to the engineering ones, and even more compared to those of high performance.
In 1954, the Italian G. Natta, following the work carried out by K. Ziegler in Germany, succeeded in obtaining polypropylene with a very regular structure, called isotactic. Its commercialization in Europe and North America began rapidly in 1957, in applications for household appliances.
The work of Natta and Ziegler, which made it possible to obtain ethylene polymers from olefins, opened the way to obtaining other polymers. This plastic, also with a semi-crystalline structure, had better mechanical properties than polyethylene, its density was the lowest of all plastics, and its price was also very low, but it was very sensitive to cold and ultraviolet light, which caused it to age rapidly. For this reason, its use was reduced to a few applications.
But the discovery of new light stabilizers, and the greater cold resistance achieved with propylene-ethylene polymerization, and the ease with which PP can accept reinforcing fillers, fiberglass, talc, asbestos and the low price made the use of this material boom.
The wide range of properties of polypropylene makes it suitable for a wide variety of applications in different sectors, and sets the standard for the materials of the future, as well as being a much more economical alternative. As a result, the use of this material is growing, thanks in large part to the development of new and improved products.
It is used for many automotive parts, such as bumpers, in household appliance housings and battery boxes, and other machines, for raffia and monofilaments, carpet manufacturing, ropes, woven sacks, packaging tapes. Because it withstands temperatures close to 100 ºC, it is used for hot fluid piping. It can also be found in the packaging of medicines, chemical products and, above all, foodstuffs that need to be sterilized or hot-packed. It is also used in the form of films, since it has high transparency and good mechanical properties: peepholes for envelopes, self-adhesive tapes, etc.
Plastic materials today represent a huge group that is almost entirely distinguished by the fact that they were developed by man, and are considered macromolecular substances, mostly organic, and are increasingly used in different and new fields of application.