Pierre
Castan
The synthesis of epoxide (epoxy) resins has
been credited to Dr Pierre Castan of Switzerland, although many
other workers had previously carried out and introduced related
precursors. (Dr S. O. Greenlee of the USA must especially be
given credit for his work on combinations of epichlorhydrin and
bisphenol A which are the basic building blocks for volume
applications to this day.)
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Dr Castan was born in Bern in 1899 and died in Geneva in
1985. After studying in Geneva he joined the De Trey Freres
Company in Zurich which practised dental medicine. In 1936 Dr
Castan produced an amber coloured, low melting solid from the
reaction of bisphenol A with epichlorhydrin (epoxide
resin) which could be thermoset by reaction with phthalic
anhydride. This was employed for dental fixtures and castings.
The patented process was licensed to Ciba Limited who developed
new epoxide adhesives. Dr Castan pursued this work and
published further patents from 1940 to 1948 covering the
manufacture and hardening reactions of epoxide resins. These
ranged from low molecular weight liquid resins to solid higher
molecular weight ones. In 1946 Ciba introduced Araldite adhesive
resins which are still evident today.
The demand for unreinforced systems for castings, coatings,
etc., together with the rapid growth of high performance fibre
reinforced composites for structural, electrical and chemical
applications, led to many further developments. Today many
thousand tons of varied and specialised epoxide resins are
produced, although the original work as developed by Dr Castan,
and others, remains as the foundation for modern systems.
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