Dr. Roy J. Plunkett’s Fortunate Accident

Sometimes we make a mistake, but we learn from it.  And sometimes, if we’re lucky, we make a mistake and the end result is better than we intended.  That happens to be the case with Roy J. Plunkett and his accidental discovery of polytetrafluoroethylene, commonly known as Teflon.  But first things first, let’s meet the man behind the accident.

Before he was a doctor, Roy Plunkett grew up during the Depression on farm in New Carslisle, Ohio.  Some years later, Plunkett received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Manchester College in 1932.  Following his studies at Manchester College, he moved on to the Ohio State University where he received his master’s degree in 1933 and his Ph.D. in 1936.  Upon completing his academic career, Plunkett was hired by DuPont, the setting for this fortunate accident.

One of Dr. Roy Plunkett’s first assignments at DuPont’s Jackson Laboratory in Deepwater, New Jersey, was to study new chlorofluorocarbon refrigerants.  Basically, he was looking for a new alternative to the potentially dangerous refrigerants of the time, sulfur dioxide and ammonia.  However, on April 6, 1938, Plunkett and his assistant, Jack Rebok, checked on a 100-pound container of tetrafluoroethylene (TFE) gas, and found one of the cylinders had not discharged when they opened the valve.  Although the cylinder seemed empty, they found it had the same mass when they weighed it.

Plunkett and Rebok opened the cylinder and found that the gas had solidified into a white powder.  Naturally, Plunkett was inclined to test the properties of the solid.  He found it that it was slippery, chemically inert, and had a very high melting point. Scientifically speaking, TFE had polymerized into polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).  Now, for the non-scientists in the room, Plunkett discovered what would later be patented by DuPont as Teflon.

Plunkett, who himself called the discovery an accident, had found a product that would change a wide range of industries.  PTFE properties were originally used as a lubricant, but they have since branched out into cookware, electrical wiring, aerospace technology, etc.  In fact many heat exchangers found in space heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration utilize this technology.  So, at the end of the day, I would say Dr. Roy J. Plunkett learned from his accident, and in one way or another, we have all benefited from it.