Os Plásticos: Panorama Histórico de Materiais e Design

Abstract

Definitions on the subject: polymers, their categorization and nomenclature as used in this work. The uses of natural polymeric materials, from antiquity to the industrial age. The uses of natural polymeric materials in the industry of the 19th and 20th centuries. Considerations on design in plastic materials in the 19th century. The development of semi-synthetic polymeric materials in the 19th century and their industrial applications in the 19th and 20th centuries. The establishment of the consumer culture. The perception of plastics in the 19th century. The development of synthetic polymeric materials in the 20th century and their impact in design and mass production. The developments in theoretical chemistry and their influence in the industry s development. The establishment of design as a formal discipline in the first half of the 20th century. First occurrences of plastics manufacture in Brazil. The role of plastics in warfare industry and the reflex of war effort in the development of plastics industry and the increment in consumerism in the second half of the 20th century. The expansion of plastics applications and the design made with them. The perception of plastics in the 20th century. Design trends in the second half of the 20th century and the uses of plastics. Plastics as an enviromental problem. Possible paths for plastics in the 21st century.