Becoming one of the essential items I grab whenever I head
out the door, I never stop and thought about the creation process of a thermos.
With my eyes, I can see my thermos composes mainly out of metal and plastic;
however, with further research I found that the materials used to create the
thermos I hold everyday goes through a complex process before I can use it. First
off the stainless steel body was incredibly made, below links to a video on the
production of stainless steel:
Next comes the lid, which is made out of copolyester, a combination
of diacids and diols, both of which are organic compounds from either petrol or
natural gas. The modified polyester material allows for better durability even
when complex and intricate designs are created for hinges and small parts. The
final part added to the thermos is a rubber like heat-resistant and waterproof silicone
stopper.
Of all the parts that makes up my thermos, the stainless
steel body fascinates me the most because it is the most durable for everyday
use yet in terms of recycling can be easily done. All stainless steel scraps
can be melted down and purified to create more new stainless steel. Unlike the
ability to throw all types of stainless steel together, copolyester must first
be sorted among the plastic group, and further needs to be divided by color so
white plastic would not be contaminated by other darker colors. Similar to the
creation of glass objects, is much easier to create white colored plastic from raw
material.
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