Fluoropolymer

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A fluoropolymer is a polymer that contains atoms of fluorine. They are characterized by an unusually high resistance to solvents, acids, and bases.

Fluoropolymers were discovered serendipitously in 1938 by Dr. Roy J. Plunkett. He was working on freon (for the DuPont corporation) and accidentally polymerized tetrafluoroethylene. The result was PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene), more commonly known as Teflon. It turned out to be a material with the lowest coefficient of friction of any known solid material and inert to virtually all chemicals.

Examples of fluoropolymers:

• PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene, Teflon)
• PFA (perfluoroalkoxy polymer resin, also known as Teflon)
• FEP (fluorinated ethylene-propylene, also known as Teflon)
• ETFE (Tefzel), (Fluon)
• ECTFE (Turcite, Halar)
• PVDF (Kynar)
• TFE (trifluoroethanol)
• FPM
• CTFE
• FFKM (Kalrez, Tecnoflon FFKM)
• FKM (Viton, Tecnoflon)

Fluoropolymers may be either thermosets or thermoplastics.

See also

• Perfluorocarbon (PFC)
• List of fluoropolymer resins