PLASTICS AND METALS 

 COMPETITORS OR COLLABORATORS? 



By G. K. Scmbner 



President, Boon ton Molding Co., 



Boonton, N. J., and Past President 



of the Society of the Plastics Industry 



[With 2 plates] 



Any attempt to compare plastics and metals on a competitive basis 

 is difficult because of the versatility of both groups of materials. It is 

 in the same class with the ancient discussions of which is the more 

 valuable man on a baseball team, a good hitter or a good pitcher. 

 Both are necessary to a well-rounded team. Our team in this case com- 

 prises all the materials of engineering that are making possible the 

 present and future scale of living for all of mankind. 



The general idea that plastics will in some way be competitors of 

 metals (especially light metals) in the postwar world may be true to 

 a certain extent, but the areas of overlapping will be found to be 

 comparatively small. In the first place, plastics are not a tonnage 

 industry as practically all metals are. Even magnesium, the newest 

 candidate among the metals, is being produced at something like 

 double the entire output of plastics. If the automotive world sud- 

 denly decided that plastic cars were actually here and tried to swing 

 into production, it would put the chemical industry in an impossible 

 situation. Three hundred and fifty thousand tons of plastics (the 

 present production for parts) would not go very far, and the tanks, 

 retorts, and piping required to jump plastics production up to any- 

 thing approaching the tonnage required would be a real headache. 



Even in the competitive area, the rivalry is not general. Molded 

 plastics compete with metal chiefly when metals are die-cast, sand- 

 cast, or machined. Laminated plastics are competitors with metals 

 when the latter are considered in sheets, formed or machined. Resin 

 coatings compete with metals used as plating mediums. These are the 

 three principal occupants of the twilight zone where plastics and 

 metals overlap. 



1 Reprinted by permission from Metals and Alloys, vol. 20, No. 2, August 1944. 



165 



