plasticize, v.
(ˈplæstɪsaɪz)
[f. plastic a. + -ize.]
1. trans. To render plastic (mouldable); to produce or promote plasticity in (a substance), e.g. by addition of a plasticizer or by plastication.
| 1927 Chem. Abstr. XXI. 2535 Mech. and chem. methods for plasticizing such modern plastics as rubber, cellulose products, galilith [sic], phenol-formaldehyde resins, etc. 1931 Engineering 2 Jan. 26/1 The scrap [rubber] was then plasticised by treatment with steam in a horizontal heater. 1945 A. T. Birkby Phenolic Plastics viii. 92 Any attempt to plasticize a large mass of thermo-setting material at one time to a condition suitable for extrusion through a die in a continuous process would fail. 1957 H. R. Simonds Conc. Guide to Plastics iii. 111 Most resins are plasticized by heat, solvents, or plasticizers. 1969 M. A. Wheelans in W. S. Penn Injection Moulding of Elastomers ix. 84 The rubber is heated and plasticized as it progresses along a retractable screw. 1971 Nature 9 July 88/2 Textile fibres which are in bulk production are usually used. These are..usually copolymers containing a proportion of a second molecule to plasticize the fibre and to allow it to be spun and handled more easily. 1972 Ibid. 21 Apr. 405/1 The acetone-treated insects neither became paralysed nor was their abdominal cuticle plasticized. |
2. trans. To treat or make with plastic.
| 1940 New Statesman 16 Mar. 361/1 An enterprising silk manufacturer..‘plasticised’ gold lace so that it became a permanent table-cloth when used as a table-surface. 1970 Daily Tel. 13 Jan. 15/6 Walls and ceiling are covered with a check fabric..and it is specially plasticised to resist condensation. 1977 Austral. House & Garden Jan. 49/1 (caption) Atel's modular kitchen units have an Italian Parawood teak veneer surface that has been plasticised for easy care. |
Hence ˈplasticizing vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1925 Paint, Oil & Chem. Rev. 22 Jan. 10/2 The resin ‘may or may not have been treated with..a plasticizing agent’. 1927 Chem. Abstr. XXI. 2535 (heading) The influence of plasticizing on the mechanical-elastic properties of natural and artificial plastics. 1948 Dalzell & Townsend Masonry Simplified I. i. 13 In order to yield a mortar, the lime or lime putty must exert a certain minimum plasticizing effect on the mortar. 1953 Industr. & Engin. Chem. May 989/1 A plasticizing extruder whose job is to transform the cold feed into a hot, formable melt. 1973 Materials & Technol. VI. viii. 606 For the plasticizing of the more polar cellulose nitrate the low-molecular phthalates are preferred. |