Stastny studied chemistry at the University of Vienna and received his doctorate in 1938. He gained professional experience at various chemical companies, including the chemical giant I.G. Farben, now known as BASF.
During his career, he invented several polymers, including polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), which is used in various industries such as paper, textile and adhesive production. He also invented the first water-soluble polymer, polyethylene oxide (PEO), which is used in various applications such as drug delivery and wastewater treatment. In the early 1900s, natural rubber was the only source of rubber in the world.
During the Second World War, the demand for rubber increased considerably and synthetic rubber became an important material for the war effort. Stastny began synthesizing rubber in the early 1920s and developed a method for polymerizing isoprene, a major component of natural rubber.
Stastny's work and efforts on synthetic rubber paved the way for the development of other synthetic polymers that are now used in a variety of applications such as car tires, industrial hoses, electrical insulation and medical devices. It is a cost-effective alternative to natural rubber and can be formulated to have specific properties such as heat, chemical or weather resistance.
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