cellophane

cellophane, a thin film of regenerated cellulose, usually transparent, employed primarily as a packaging material. For many years after World War I, cellophane was the only flexible, transparent plastic film available for use in such common items as food wrap and adhesive tape. Since the 1960s it has steadily given ground to films made from synthetic polymers such as polyethylene, polyvinylidene chloride, and polyethylene terephthalate.

Cellophane emerged from a series of efforts conducted during the late 19th century to produce artificial materials by the chemical alteration of cellulose, a natural polymer obtained in large quantities from wood pulp or cotton linters. In 1892 English chemists Charles F. Cross and Edward J. Bevan patented viscose, a solution of cellulose treated with caustic soda and carbon disulfide. Viscose is best known as the basis for the man-made fibre rayon, but in 1898 Charles H. Stearn was granted a British patent for producing films from the substance. It was not until 1908, however, that Jacques E. Brandenberger, a Swiss chemist, designed a machine for continuous production of a strong, transparent film. Brandenberger coined the term cellophane by combining cellulose with diaphane, the French word for “translucent.” World War I delayed large-scale development; however, in 1913 a French company, La Cellophane SA, was formed. In 1923 E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (now DuPont Company) acquired rights from La Cellophane to manufacture the product in the United States. Eventually many varieties of the film were developed. While Cellophane remains a trademark in many countries in Europe and elsewhere, in the United States it is, by court decision, a generic name.

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In the manufacturing process, carefully ripened viscose is piped to a casting machine, where it is extruded through a slit into an acid bath in which it coagulates into a film and is reconverted to cellulose. Driven rolls carry the film through a further series of baths, where it is washed and bleached, treated with softening materials such as glycerol, and coated with moisture-proofing materials. The treated film is passed through dryers and taken up onto large mill rolls. Cellophane is transparent, odour-resistant, tough, grease-proof, and impermeable to gases. It can be made in various thicknesses and colours, and, by the application of special coatings such as polyvinylidene chloride, it can be made moisture-proof and heat-sealing.