In 1898, the German chemist, Hans von Pechmann, obtained a white matter by combining diazomethane and ether. In 1900, two German scientists, Eugen Bamberger and Friedrich Tschirner, tested this substance and called it polyethylene.
Thereafter, two English scientist, Fawcett and Gibson, at ICI labs combined ethylene gas with benzaldehyde on March 27 1933. The experiment did not proceed as desired and a white wax was deposited in the autoclave. This substance that was searched long for was polyethylene.
The industrial production of polyethylene was started from 1939 through a high-pressure method at 1000-2000 atm and 150-200 ̊C using ethylene gas as raw material and oxygen as catalyst. Polyethylene produced from this high-pressure reaction (HDPE) was first used in the World War II for the coverage of radar cables.
In the late 1953, the German scientist, Karl Ziegler, produced HDPE by a low-pressure reaction under 10 bar at 70 ̊C using organometallic catalysts. This invention was registered by Hoechst AG Company in Germany. Thereafter, the company started to produce HDPE under the brand Hostalen. In 1956, the first generation of HDPE pipe grade called Hostalen GM 5010 was supplied to the market.
Mr. Karl Ziegler won the Nobble Prize in Chemistry in 1963 for his success in the invention of HDPE. The pipe grade was produced from 1956 to 1958 with a minimum required strength (MRS) of 5 MPa. The raw material for pipe grade was formally upgraded to PE100 and production of pipes with a diameter of 16 to 250 mm was started. The second generation of pipe grade, PE80, was supplied to the market in early 1980s. Ten years later in early 1990s, the third generation of pipe grade, PE100, was introduced to the market.
Since its inception to the market, PE100 specifications have been modified so that it is currently used to produce two different co-monomers, namely 1-butane and 1-hexene.PE100 RC is the latest generation of PE100 introduced to the market with specifications in accordance with PAS 1075.