Polytetrafluoroethylene

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Teflon is the brand name of a compound discovered by Roy J. Plunkett (1910-1994) of DuPont in 1938 and introduced as a commercial product in 1946.

Teflon is polytetrafluoroethene (PTFE).

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Teflon is also used as the trade name for a polymer with similar properties, perfluoroalkoxy polymer resin (PFA):

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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. Its melting point is 327 °C.

Teflon is sometimes said to be a spin-off from the US space program with more down-to-earth applications, but actually its first significant use was in the Manhattan Project, as a material to contain highly-reactive uranium hexafluoride. It was first sold commercially in 1946.

Teflon has been supplemented with another DuPont product, Silverstone, a three-coat fluoropolymer system that produces a more durable finish than Teflon. Silverstone was released in 1976.

In the US, gun control advocates have campaigned against Teflon-coated armor-piercing "cop-killer" bullets. Actually, many types of bullets are coated with Teflon—to reduce friction and abrasion as the bullet passes through the gun.

Teflon has been implicated in cancer, though DuPont denies any association.

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