Uniqueness Of Plastics As Materials Starting with the Hyatt brothers' development of the plastic billiard ball in 1868, the plastics industry has grown exponentially during the present century, until it now occupies more than 5% of the industrial work force. The rapidly growing importance of plastic materials is a result of the many unique qualities they offer, which distinguish them from conventional structural materials such as metals, ceramics, wood, leather, textiles, and paper. Among these unique qualities are generally easy processability, light weight, wide range from rigidity to flexibility, toughness, wide range from adhesion to lubricity, abrasion resistance, wide useful temperature range, grades with high resistance to burning, electrical and thermal insulation, electrical conductivity when desired, wide range of color and appearance from highly transparent to completely opaque, weather resistance, chemical resistance to most inorganics and many organics, and often low to moderate cost.