High technology
Petrochemistry has made possible the quantum leap achieved in communication technology during the last decades. An impressive number of components in our computers, telephones, TV sets, radios or CD players owe their existence to the petrochemical industry.
The computer could not function without microchips, made using petrochemicals. In computer housings and computer keyboards styrenic plastics are used. Indeed, in the electronics field, petrochemistry is everywhere, from the board of a printed circuit to the chip, cablings and connectors. Miniaturisation has become the keyword. All our electronic equipment has steadily become smaller, lighter and handier in the last few years: digital cameras, mobile phones, laptops...
CDs and CD-ROMs are made of the most common petrochemical-based product: it is a simple piece of plastic, about 1.2 mm thick. Most of a CD consists of a piece of clear polycarbonate; a plastic derived from benzene, through bisphenol A and cumene. This polycarbonate is impressed with microscopic bumps arranged as an extremely long spiral track of data, then covered with a thin aluminum layer. Then a thin acrylic layer is sprayed over the aluminum to protect it. The label is then printed onto the acrylic... and slipped into a polystyrene "jewel box", the transparent, plastic boxes in which CDs usually come.
The electronic industry could not do without the materials derived from the petrochemical industry: they ensure better design, better electrical insulation and safety, ease of assembly and an amazing capacity for miniaturisation and data storage.
For more information, see Plastics, a material of innovation for the electrical and electronic industry.
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