3. Plastic surfacing will not discolor or fade, even though exposed for a long period to the sun's rays.
4. Plastic pieces need neither polish nor wax. They are washed with ordinary soap and water.
Salespersons should understand a few basic technical facts in order to discuss plastic pieces or sets or "all-plastic" rooms with interested customers.
The term "plastics" is a commercial, rather than a scientific, designation; the line is drawn not so much by what the substance is, as by what it will do. The materials called "plastics" have in common not only the ability to be formed while soft into a desired shape possessing rigidity, but also the chemical characteristics of having been polymerized; that is, they are constituted of large molecules which are aggregates of similar molecules.
Plastics are classified into two types depending on their physical properties:
1. Thermoplastic.
2. Thermosetting.
Thermoplastic materials soften upon being heated and become solid again when cooled. This change of state can be repeated over and over. Thermosetting plastics on the other hand are compounds which definitely alter their chemical constitution in the course of molding under heat or pressure or both.
Plastics also may be classified according to their chemical source. The 18 or so known basic types fall into 4 general fields: Cellulose plastics, protein plastics, natural resin plastics, and synthetic resin plastics.