Plastic
A plastic material is any that can be molded or shaped, but the term is specifically used nowadays to refer to a class of synthetic organic polymers with nearly magical properties. The heathen scientists insist that these materials are formed from chains of simpler hydrocarbons. They are named for the hydrocarbon monomers used in this chain; hence a molecule of polyethylene, used in plastic bottles, is made up of many molecules of ethylene.
Plastics contain resins, plasticizers, and fillers. The resin is the plastic itself. Plasticizers are stabilized oils that increase the flexibility of a plastic that they have been added to. (The vinyl in the seats of your 1972 Dodge pickup is the same plastic as the hard vinyl siding on your house; it has just been plasticized). Fillers are substances added to the plastic, sometimes to reduce the cost, and often to impart desirable mechanical properties, such as dispersing microscopic plastic bubbles throughout the material to improve its resilience.
Common plastic resins used in Transformers toys include:
- Polycarbonate (PC)
- Can be transparent or opaque. This is the same plastic from which CDs, DVDs, and Blu-rays are made. Any clear parts on a Transformer, such as windows and light-piped eyes, are PC. Some model kits' separate ball joints are also made from this plastic.
- Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS)
- Strong and tough "engineering plastic". LEGO bricks and car bumpers are made from ABS. The majority of any given Transformer toy is likely to be made of this. ABS also seems to suffer from a condition called Gold Plastic Syndrome when colored the swirled, metallic goldish-bronze color seen on some figures. However, not all gold plastic suffers from this; it seems to occur mostly in older plastics (pre-RID). This issue appears to be largely fixed in newer toys. The translucent version of the plastic is called MABS (Methacrylate Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene)
- Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
- Strong and hard, PVC can be made rubbery with the addition of plasticizers. Flexible PVC is often simply called vinyl. Most "rubber" tires are actually PVC.
- Polyoxymethylene (POM)
- A very tough, resilient, slippery plastic for mechanical parts. Any gears or small gimmick-related pieces are likely POM. POM cannot be painted.
- Polyamide (PA)
- Known by brand names such as Nylon, PA has similar properties to POM, but is stronger. Often used for larger parts that require resiliency, such as ball joints. PA also cannot be painted.
- Polypropylene (PP)
- Known for being strong and resistant to heat, so it's often used in food containers and plates, because you don't want plastic to leach out into your food. Was previously listed on this page as not being used in Transformers toys, but was used for parts of HasLab Unicron!
Other plastics that are commonly used in toys are Polystyrene (PS) and Polyethylene (PE).
Most plastics in Transformers and other toys are thermoplastics, which liquefy when heated. Thermosetting plastics, an older technology, solidify when heated and are still widely used for many purposes, but only very rarely in toys. (Occasionally, they are found in toys' motors.)
Toys were super cool when they were mostly made of strong and awesome die-cast metal like Inferno and the tape guy with the cool voice, but later they changed to lame plastic for some stupid reason.
Stupid reasons
[edit]Thermoplastics are science's gift to the toy industry. They can be melted at fairly low temperatures (so broken pieces can be fixed easily with a soldering iron) and molded in colors with fine detail, as well as stand up well to play wear because of their resilience. They can be made transparent or opaque. They are electrical insulators. Finally, there are a great many plastics, as we have begun to see in the above list, with a wide variety of material properties, which makes it very likely that a suitable plastic could be found for a particular job.
See also
[edit]External links
[edit]- [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Plastic|{{#if:||Plastic}}]] on Wikipedia