Formica (plastic)

Formica logo
Formica laminate
Inventors Daniel J. O'Conor, Herbert A. Faber
Manufacturer Formica Group

Formica laminate is a brand of composite materials manufactured since 2007 by New Zealand-based Formica Group. The material was invented in the United States in 1912 and is manufactured for a variety of applications today. In common use, the word Formica refers to the company's classic product, a heat-resistant, wipe-clean, plastic laminate of paper or fabric with melamine resin.

Formica Group, a division of the New Zealand company Fletcher Building, consists of Formica Canada, Inc., Formica Corporation, Formica de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Formica IKI Oy, Formica Limited, Formica S.A., Formica S.A.S., Formica Taiwan Corporation, Formica (Thailand) Co., Ltd., and Formica (Asia) Ltd., among others.

Invention

Assorted samples of Formica

Formica laminate was invented in 1912 by Daniel J. O'Conor and Herbert A. Faber, while working at Westinghouse. They filed for a patent on it on 1 February 1913.[1][2] They originally conceived it as a substitute for mica used as electrical insulation, made of wrapped woven fabric coated with Bakelite thermosetting resin, then slit lengthwise, flattened, and cured in a press. They left Westinghouse immediately afterwards.

Formica laminate now refers primarily to the decorative product composed of several layers of kraft paper impregnated with melamine thermosetting resin (or, later, a unified core as described below) and topped with a decorative layer protected by melamine, then compressed and cured with heat to make a hard, durable surface.

Etymology of the name

The mineral mica was commonly used at that time for electrical insulation. Because the new product acted as a substitute “for mica”, Faber used the name “Formica”[1] as a trademark (the word already existed as the Latin name for wood ants, from which formic acid and the derivative formaldehyde compound used in the resin were first isolated.)

History

O’Conor and Faber quit Westinghouse to start their own business, enlisting lawyer and banker John G. Tomlin as an investor. Tomlin put up $7,500 and became a silent partner in the fledgling business. The company began operations on 2 May 1913, and was immediately successful: by September, Formica Products Company had eighteen employees trying to keep up with the demand for electrical parts for Bell Electric Motor, Ideal Electric and Northwest Electric.

After the General Bakelite Company chose to sell resin for sheet insulation only to Westinghouse (allowing the Formica company other shapes with smaller markets), they switched to a similar competitive phenolic resin, Redmanol. After patent litigation favorable to Baekeland in 1922, the Redmanol Chemical Products Company (founded by L.V. Redman) was merged with the General Bakelite Company (founded by Baekeland in 1910), and the Condensite Company (founded by J.W. Aylesworth) to form The Bakelite Corporation.[3]

An important application devised in the 1920s was the use of phenolic-laminated fabric for gears; cut on conventional hobbing machines, the gears were tough and quiet, which was important for automotive timing gears. By 1932, Formica Insulation Company was producing 6,000 gear blanks a day for Chevrolet and other car makers.

In 1927, Formica Insulation Company obtained a patent on an opaque barrier sheet that allowed the use of rotogravure printing to make wood-grained or marble-surfaced laminate, the first of many innovations that were to associate the name "Formica" with decorative interior products.

In 1938 melamine thermosetting resin was developed by American Cyanamid Company. It resisted heat, abrasion and moisture better than phenolic or urea resins and could be used to make more colors; soon after, the Formica Corporation was buying the entire output of melamine from American Cyanamid.

During World War II it manufactured "Pregwood" plastic-impregnated wooden aeroplane propellers and bomb parts. Post-war, engineering uses declined, ceasing in 1970 in favor of decorative laminates.

The company was headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, for many years. After WWII, it entered the European market through a license agreement.

Acquisitions

In 1956 American Cyanamid acquired Formica Corp.[4] The principal reason was to have a captive buyer for melamine, as Cyanamid was one of the largest producers. However, this was soon thwarted due to an anti-trust action by the US Department of Justice. Through a settlement agreement, Formica Corp. was required to buy a significant share of its melamine needs from competing producers.

Cyanamid operated Formica Corp. as a fully consolidated subsidiary, rather than as an operating division, allowing it to retain the term "Formica" as a corporate name. This gave added protection to the trademark, helping to protect the word from becoming generic—which had been tried by many competitors, against whom Cyanamid gained legal injunctions—to protect this valuable trademark name. (Historically, trademarks owned by other corporations which had become generic words, such as "shredded wheat", were no longer the exclusive property of their originators. Cyanamid resolutely defended the Formica brand name.)

Dan O'Conor, son of the inventor, continued as president of Formica Corp. after the acquisition, and was widely regarded as the next Chairman of American Cyanamid. However, he was thrown from his horse during a steeplechase event, suffering a broken neck and becoming quadriplegic, ending his business career and, many executives felt, preventing Cyanamid from achieving the growth and profitability it might have.

After a 1984 management buyout from American Cyanamid,[5] Formica diversified with products such as solid surfacing, metal laminates and flooring materials.

Since 2007 it has been a subsidiary of the Fletcher Building group,[6] which purchased it from private equity investors Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. and Oaktree Capital Management, LLC.[7]

Product evolution

Decorative laminates were made by impregnating large sheets of kraft paper with phenolic resin, which was then partially cured (B-staged by passing through a long drying oven) and cut to sheet lengths at the oven exit. The dry treated sheets were stiff and somewhat brittle. A decorative sheet (solid colored, or wood-grained, or patterned), impregnated with melamine resin and B-staged and cut to length in a similar manner to the phenolic core sheets, was laid on a polished stainless steel press plate. Then several plies or layers of kraft paper impregnated with a phenolic resin were placed on top of the decorative layer. The number of plies of kraft used yielded products of varying thickness depending upon end-use requirements. Next, a sheet of release paper that would not bond to the phenolic resin was placed on top of the phenolic kraft and following this a mirror image build-up of the assembly already on the press plate. Finally, another polished stainless steel press plate was placed on top of the pack assembly. On the other side of this plate another similar assembly was built until there were several laminates in one press pack to go into a single opening in the hydraulic press. The huge hydraulic presses, perhaps 5 feet by 12 feet, had many heated openings thus many laminates could be produced in a single press cycle of about one hour duration. Great pressure (in excess of 1000 psi and heat to 150 degrees Celsius) were applied to each press pack. The B-staged melamine and phenolic resins first flowed to bond the interlaminar plies together, then the plastic resins thermoset to provide a very durable product that could tolerate much heat and abrasion.

A variant was to use a slightly roughened steel sheet atop the cover sheet, producing a laminate with a matte surface. A similar effect can be achieved using various types of release paper between the steel press plate and the decorative melamine surface.Some users considered this more attractive than the gleaming, absolutely flat surface created by the highly polished stainless steel separators. After being removed from the press, the individual laminates were sanded on the phenolic kraft side to a uniform thickness. This sanding operation also increased the back surface area so the more secure bonding to a substrate such as a kitchen counter could be achieved.

This lamination process was costly and labor-intensive. It required extensive handling of the individual sheets. Those sheets were more brittle than potato chips, hence easily damaged. Breaking off even a small corner rendered the sheet unusable (and not repairable or recyclable). Yet no better process had been devised, since the inception of the product. After a meeting of the parent corporation's Research Coordinating Committee, Cyanamid's Director of Corporate Development and Planning, Mr. Kent L. Aldershof, suggested a new approach to Formica's Research Director, Dr. Arthur Giddings.

The proposal was to bypass the entire process of making paper and impregnating individual sheets, to be subsequently laminated. Instead, Aldershof proposed making a thick paste of cellulose powder and phenolic resin, to form the core in a single piece prior to curing. The melamine-impregnated cover sheets would be laid atop that, in forming the press packs.

This approach was pursued in the Formica research laboratory, with some success. Thereafter, Formica decorative surfacing was produced with what was termed Corex Core. The product was never commercialized for two reasons. First the expected economics were not there. It was found that the only suitable source of cellulose fiber came from sheets of kraft paper that had already been made and were then ground up and the resultant laminate had different physical properties. Secondly, laminates traditionally made from plies of paper have different length and cross physical properties and the industry grew and developed based on rectangular laminates so cross-plying was not possible. The Corex core provided uniform cross and length properties which while seeming to be an advantage was not because of the way the entire industry of laminate application had developed to account for the non-symmetrical property.

A further advantage may have been that the core material could be impregnated with a pigment, approximately matching the color of the top sheet that would later be applied. The phenolic resin turned very dark brown during curing, so that a narrow brown line would show when the material was later used in a countertop. Pigmented Unified Core would provided an edge largely indistinguishable from the surface color, giving a more pleasing overall appearance to the product.

Since the Corex product could not be commercialized for the reasons described above, a more conventional method was developed to make the product called Colorcore that provided uniform color throughout the laminate and eliminated the brown line.

An interesting variant of the product was also developed, known as Deep-Textured Formica Surfacing. Use of the cellulosic paste allowed using a deeply textured, or even sculptured, metal press sheet atop the decorative sheet, producing a formed surface. The researchers overlaid the stainless steel sheets with furnace cement, a material easily sculptured or textured, and able to withstand the high heat during curing. They would carve into this cement an illustration, such as natural slate in negative form. When the furnace cement hardened, and the sheet was used in a press pack, the final Unified Core product would have a raised or three-dimensional image.

It was thought that such an approach would lead to producing large panels, usable for example as wall decor in a hotel lobby or corporate office. In a further development, the researchers used very thin copper sheets in place of the decorative sheet (still overlaying that with the melamine-impregnated top sheet). The overall effect was like a large metal medallion, or a copper sculpture. Many impressive samples emerged from the research lab. The product simulating natural slate proved to be a very popular product and was a leading seller for many years.

A decorative edge known as "Ideal Edge" was originally invented by John W. Pehr and then bought by Formica Corp. All rights to the product now belong to the "Diller Corporation", or Formica.

Relatives

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "The History of Formica Corporation". Formica.com. Retrieved 2013-08-29.
  2. ↑ Northeast finds Formica in top condition at 100, Financial Times, Chris Tighe, 31 January 2013
  3. ↑ American Institute of Chemical Engineers Staff (1977). Twenty-Five Years of Chemical Engineering Progress. Ayer Publishing. p. 216. ISBN 0-8369-0149-5.
  4. ↑ "Cyanamid Concern Formally Acquires Formica Company". New York Times. Apr 17, 1956. p. 41.
  5. ↑ ROBERT J. COLE (Oct 12, 1984). "Cyanamid Will Sell Formica; Deal Valued At $200 Million". New York Times. p. D3.
  6. ↑ History of the Fletcher Building group Archived 14 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ "Formica Corporation announces purchase by Fletcher Building Limited". Formica.com. Retrieved 2013-08-29.
  8. ↑ Alpi, "AlpiKord"
  9. ↑ "The Alpi Website". Alpi.it. Retrieved 2013-08-29.
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