Seventy-five years ago, in a small lab in Louisville, Kentucky, Dr. Sylvan O. Greenlee invented a material that may have seemed ordinary to most, but he knew that he had just discovered a material that would enable the future. That landmark discovery was liquid epoxy resin.
Seventy-five years ago, in a small lab in Louisville, Kentucky, Dr. Sylvan O. Greenlee invented a material that may have seemed ordinary to most, but he knew that he had just discovered a material that would enable the future. That landmark discovery was liquid epoxy resin.
By reacting Bisphenol-A (BPA) and epichlorohydrin (ECH), Greenlee designed a molecule with an unparalleled combination of properties. What he described as a “syrupy liquid“ at room temperature, is the same material we use today to make coatings and flooring as durable as a rock. Epoxy resins provide superb corrosion, chemical and thermal resistance, making it the ideal material for demanding applications, like giant wind energy turbine blades, shipping containers splashed with salty sea water, and life-saving, automotive structural components.
The patent that Dr. Greenlee received in 1948 for his work using high-molecular weight epoxy resins was only the beginning. In 1947, only five years after that first lab experiment, several grades of EPON(tm) resins made their commercial debut. By 1954, the four major U.S.-based producers had cross-licensed multiple epoxy end-use application patents to deliver a combined volume of 20 million pounds of epoxy resin to the market.
At the time, Shell Chemical was the sole supplier of ECH, and Bakelite was a leading supplier of BPA, making both companies instrumental to the commercial production of epoxy resins. These same suppliers would eventually be folded into the company we know today as Hexion, cementing Hexion’s unique and specal legacy in epoxy resins.
Three generations later, the global demand for epoxy resin has exceeded five billion pounds per year. To meet this growing need, Hexion continues to advance epoxy development, just like Dr. Greenlee did 75 years ago, to deliver improved liquid epoxy resins and blends, epoxy resins in water or in solvent, solid fusion and power grade resins, and a range of multifunctional and specialty epoxy resins.
Happy Diamond Anniversary from the epoxy resins team at Hexion!
