How did they invent Teflon?

Answer 1

In 1938, DuPont scientist Dr. Roy Plunkett discovered Teflon entirely by accident while trying to synthesize a new refrigerant gas.

Plunkett had made & stored a hundred pounds of tetrafluoroethylene (TFE) gas in metal cans with valve releases for easy access. The cans were in turn set on dry ice to keep them cool and liquefied.

As the story goes, one of the cylinders failed to discharge the liquid TFE when the valve was opened. Throwing caution to the wind, Plunkett & his assistant Jack Rebok sawed open the cylinder to find its contents had polymerized. The once liquid TFE had solidified into a white powder.

Dr. Plunkett immediately began testing & trying to replicate the substance now known as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). He received US Patent 2230654 for Tetrafluoroethelyne Polymers in 1941.

Answer 2

Teflon was invented in 1938 by a chemist named Roy J. Plunkett. He was working at DuPont and accidentally discovered the substance while attempting to create a new refrigerant. Plunkett discovered a white waxy residue, which turned out to have remarkable non-stick properties and became the basis for Teflon.