Talk:Polytetrafluoroethylene

"Teflon is the plastic with the lowest coefficient of friction. It is also used as a non-stick coating for pans and other cookware. Teflon is very unreactive, and so is often used in containers and pipework for reactive chemicals." -- yes, but given there are at least two teflons, which one? - - Tarquin

I think the above is for the traditional PTFE Teflon, which is called Teflon-TFE when it's needed to distinguish it from Teflon-PFA, the perfluoroalkoxy- version, which is a more recent development although it's been around too for a few years. Both Teflon-TFE and Teflon-PFA have quite similar properties and in many applications, either one can be used. My experience has been that Teflon-PFA is a bit more flexible and a bit more translucent. Teflon-TFE is the best and used for most applications, but Teflon-PFA is used for chemically inert plastic bottles. H Padleckas 22:35, 31 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Should we split off the two chemicals to articles with the full chemical name as title, leaving this article to point to them? -- Tarquin

I don't think there's that much to write about each one separately. Let's just keep this one article and mention both in here. H Padleckas 22:35, 31 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Hmm. It might be nice to mention what the teflon-application was in the space program... Was it something to do with the spacesuits? Should there be some mention of Gore-Tex® as well? questions... -- Cimon Avaro on a pogo-stick 04:14, Sep 11, 2003 (UTC)

I agree there should be some mention of Gore-Tex®. Gore-Tex® is Teflon with microscopically-sized holes through it which let gas pass through, but not liquid water. H Padleckas 22:35, 31 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Can someone go into the use of Teflon in armor-piercing bullets? Kent Wang 09:58, 4 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Non stick

The article doesn't tell me why it's so non-sticky. Can anyone add that sort of layman detail? --[[User:Bodnotbod|bodnotbod » .....TALKQuietly)]] 19:18, Oct 13, 2004 (UTC)

Sure. Teflon is nonsticky because it has a very tight packed geometry. Like high thread-count sheets being smoother than low thread-count sheets, as the atoms which compose a substance are drawn closer together, the surface of the substance becomes "smoother". This smoothness is further increased by Teflon being inert and non-polar as well; meaning it doesn't "grab" at other chemicals and has full and stable electron geometries.

Is Tephlon Cookware dangerous to humans?

I have heard that if you scrap a teflon frying pan with a metal object to stir the food while cooking the teflon can get into the food. This seems to make sense, but is that dangerous to humans at all? Thanks.

How does Teflon react to UV?

I'm going to use a Teflon-tube as a secondary layer of insulation on a wire, but it is in a high-UV application. Will this cause a weardown of the specifications of the Teflon? If so, what will change?

Kent Paulsen

multi-linked polytetrafluoroethylene

I have changed

«Teflon is [[polymerization|poly]]tetra[[fluoride|fluoro]][[ethylene ]] (PTFE).»

(which renders as «Teflon is polytetra fluoro ethylene (PTFE).»)

to this

«Teflon is polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). A [[polymerization]] of [[fluoride]] and [[ethylene]].»

(which renders as «Teflon is polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). A polymerization of fluoride and ethylene.»

User:H Padleckas, reverted it with a summary of RV last edit for correctness. I was never good at chemistry, so I accept that my sentence was most likely to be incorrect. But I still think that the current format is rather confusing for the reader. So I would appreciate if someone would write a correct sentence, avoiding the use of 3 links in the same word.--Nabla 22:31, 2005 Jun 6 (UTC)

Cop Killing

I've heard it alleged (for example in Uncle Fester (author)'s Vest Busters: How to Make your Own Body-Armor-Piercing Bullets.) that aside from protecting the rifling, the teflon coating of an AP bullet reduces the friction between it and the fibres of a kevlar vest, allowing it to penetrate more kevlar before being stopped. Anyone knowledgable in such matters care to comment?

Teflon coating serves as a lubricant to reduce the wear of the barrel. Its terminal ballistics effects are negligible. The armor piercing bullet works just as a KE-penetrator, with its properties determined by small loss of energy on impact by deformation (as it is very hard), good transfer of energy into the target (pointed tip), and high kinetic energy (as it is heavy and E_k=mv²). See here: http://www.alphadogweb.com/firearms/copkillerbullets.htm --Shaddack 20:57, 17 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Teflon-FEP

From the article:

. Its melting point varies between 260 °C (FEP) and 327 °C (PTFE), depending on which specific Teflon polymer is being discussed.

What's FEP supposed to be? Thanks, --Abdull 15:55, 17 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Teflon-FEP is another type of Teflon sold by DuPont.
The FEP stands for Fluorinated Ethylene-Propylene. A Teflon-FEP molecule is a copolymer of perfluorinated ethylene and perfluorinated propylene, where all the hydrogens in the ethylene and propylene monomers are replaced by fluorine. H Padleckas 17:51, 17 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

airsoft uses for teflon

   I have used teflon on my airsoft guns and have found out that it make everything easier on it. you can cock it back easier, it shoots more accurately and it also functions better. what i did is take apart my gun got a paintbruch and put teflon on all of the pieces. then put it back together. i have found it alot easier to shoot the gun. Michael Brieske