100 Years of Kunststoffe

• Editorial - In the Beginning was the Word
• A Look Back - Article Series on 100 Years of Kunststoffe

January 1911: the first issue of the German magazine Kunststoffe was published – the magazine for the production and use of refined or chemically produced materials, as was stated on the title page. The magazine’s founder, Dr. Richard Escales, wrote in the introduction: Our magazine will first consider the production processes for all the different plastics, in terms of both the chemistry and the machinery involved. Then, however, extensive coverage will also be given to the use of the materials and, coupled with this, to the testing and study of the materials. The fact that the magazine, founded in 1910, has remained true to these original intentions right up to the present is borne out by its current subtitles of Materials, Processing and Application.

The Art of Creating Materials

Despite this, the journal, which numbered 480 pages in its first year and now totals more than 2,000 pages in peak years, i.e. the years with K plastics fairs, has still undergone changes over the course of time. This is due not least to the fact that the German word for plastics (Kunststoffe), which was first coined by Escales, has long since come to include (polymeric) materials which had not been invented back then – testifying to the vitality and innovativeness of what is now a key sector of industry. This was a development that the visionary publisher had already anticipated in his first foreword, where he stated that chemistry should no longer be content with imitating natural materials but, instead, should finally start producing materials synthetically which would be more effective than natural ones. Today, users frequently employ the term tailor-made synthetic materials in this context.

For many years, plastic compounds based on cellulose, rubber, synthetic resins and proteins formed the focus of the magazine’s contents. Many projects reported on were aimed at finding substitutes for amber, silk, leather, cork compounds, pitch and other natural raw materials. Later on, once the theory of macromolecules had made its way into practice, the synthetically produced thermoplastics and thermosets became the focus of attention. And the predominant processing techniques of today, such as injection molding and extrusion, are currently displacing the traditional kneading and pressing methods to this same extent. The prime applications are also moving away from classical consumer goods towards mass products for the construction and packaging industry and innovative solutions for automotive engineering, medical technology, optics and electronics.

Throughout all these changes, the magazine has retained its function as an intermediary between the plastics producers, tool manufacturers, plastics machinery builders and converters, and has also kept up its role as the mouthpiece for the industry and the organ of the industry associations. And, despite all the gloomy predictions of the skeptics who saw plastics as nothing more than cheap substitutes, these materials (known as Kunststoffe in German, having taken their name directly from the magazine title) have become established as intelligent solutions in a large number of applications, including highly demanding ones.

Taking up the Fight

Right at the outset, only hardened researchers dealt with plastics and also took up the fight with non-crystallizable and non-distilling substances, in the words of Escales. Minds such as these, which succeed in conquering new technical terrain, have constituted a stock of eminent authors for 100 years now. The magazine can thus consider itself highly fortunate.

On the occasion of this anniversary, www.Kunststoffe-international.com is presenting a collection of articles illustrating the visible influence that these materials have had on key sectors as well as on the design and engineering of the goods produced there. The German website, www.kunststoffe.de, additionally presents a gallery of long since forgotten printed adverts as well as a collection of historical articles.

We wish you an exciting time exploring our special anniversary features.

Clemens Doriat
(Editor Kunststoffe)