Best billiard ball in the 19th century: Composite materials made of celluloid and bone as substitutes for ivory.

ABSTRACT: The demystification of how 19th-century novelly designed materials became significant elements of modern technological, economic, and cultural life requires a complete understanding of the material dimensions of historical artifacts. The objects frequently described as the earliest manufactured plastic products-the billiard balls made by John Wesley Hyatt and his associates from the late 1860s-are examined closely for the first time and are found to be more complex and functionally more successful than has been described. Modern analytical techniques such as optical microscopy, scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence, micro-Fourier transformed infrared, and handheld/micro-Raman spectroscopies were used to reveal the complex composition of the S

SUBMITTER: Neves A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10651075 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature