View source for Gutta-percha

== Description ==

A milky latex obtained from any of several tropical trees of the sapodilla family native to the Malaysian peninsula. Most commercial production of gutta-percha comes from the ''Palaquium gutta'' and ''Palaquium oblongifoia'' trees. First introduced to London in 1843 by Dr William Montgomerie, gutta-percha is a tough, pliable, moldable rubber-like material though it lacks the elasticity of rubber. On exposure to air and sunlight, gutta-percha oxidizes and becomes brittle. Gutta-percha vulcanizes with sulfur into a hard, waterproof material. From the late 1840s, it was widely used for golf balls, imitation leather, joints in doll limbs, electrical insulation (especially underwater cables), and dental fillings. The name gutta-percha was sometimes used for any dark coloured molding material.

== Synonyms and Related Terms ==

trans-polyisoprene; gutapercha (Esp.); gutta-percha (Fr.); guttaperca (It); gutta percha; guttapercha  

==Physical and Chemical Properties==

* Soluble in carbon disulfide, ligroin, turpentine and chloroform. 
* Insoluble in water.
* Melting Point = 100

==Resources and Citations==

* Plastic Museum: Natural Materials section: [http://www.plastics-museum.com/ Gutta Percha]

* G.S.Brady, ''Materials Handbook'', McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971  Comment: p. 384

* Richard S. Lewis, ''Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary'', Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 10th ed., 1993

* George Savage, ''Art and Antique Restorer's Handbook'', Rockliff Publishing Corp, London, 1954

* Pam Hatchfield, ''Pollutants in the Museum Environment'', Archetype Press, London, 2002

* Random House, ''Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language'', Grammercy Book, New York, 1997

* ''The Merck Index'', Martha Windholz (ed.), Merck Research Labs, Rahway NJ, 10th edition, 1983  Comment: entry 4611

* ''The American Heritage Dictionary'' or ''Encarta'', via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998

* Art and Architecture Thesaurus Online, https://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/aat/, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, 2000

* History of Plastic: www.nswpmith.com.au/historyofplastics.html



[[Category:Materials database]]