Elmer Keiser Bolton
When Wallace Carothers arrived at DuPont in 1928 one of the tasks his group took on was the development of new synthetic fibers for textiles. At that time a number of natural polymers such as latex and cellulose were in common use, rayon as a semisynthetic from nitrated cellulose had recently been improved and begun upending the textile industries, and some fully synthetic polymers such as bakelite were also known and being used for certain applications, but the existing fully synthetic polymers could not be drawn into fibers and spun into thread, so great opportunity existed to manufacture thread and yarn from synthetic polymers to join or replace the existing fibers in the market (natural fibers such as cotton, wool, linen, and silk and artificial fiber in the various recently emerged types of rayon).
Polymer chemistry
Polymers are major components of composite materials such as carbon fiber-epoxy.
The work of Henri Braconnot in 1777 and the work of Christian Schönbein in 1846 led to the discovery of nitrocellulose, which, when treated with camphor, produced celluloid. Dissolved in ether or acetone, it is collodion, used as a wound dressing since the U.S. Civil War. Cellulose acetate was first prepared in 1865. In years 1834-1844 the properties of rubber (polyisoprene) were found to be greatly improved by heating with sulfur, thus founding the vulcanization process.