PF (Phenol-formaldehyde, aka Phenolic)
Phenol-formaldehyde conjures up feelings of ‘olden times’, its brown semi-gloss reminds me of junk sales where tatty second-hand products wait for a time when fashion makes them desirable once again. Not something that is likely to happen with this plastic of a bygone age.
Developed by LH Baekeland in 1907, phenol-formaldehyde was a pioneering thermoset plastic that heralded the plastic age that was to define the twentieth century. Today, formaldehyde plastics have limited applications due to the greater range of processes that can be used on thermoplastic materials.
At first, the visual language of phenol-formaldehyde borrowed from other materials, attempting to replicate wood or ceramic products in its ...
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