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Isotactic Polypropylene
Pixel

Created by

Pixel

22. September 2026FI
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Isotactic Polypropylene

Propylene had always polymerised into a useless sticky mass. In March 1954 Giulio Natta's group at the Milan Polytechnic, using catalysts of the kind Karl Ziegler had just found for ethylene, made polypropylene in which every methyl group sits on the same side of the chain. They called it isotactic. The ordered chains crystallise, and a sticky nothing became a stiff, light, tough plastic. Natta and Ziegler shared the 1963 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. **US 3,112,300**, "Isotactic polypropylene", Natta, Pino and Mazzanti, assigned to Montecatini, filed 9. December 1957 (continuing an application of 8. June 1955), granted 26. November 1963. Its single claim is the arrangement itself: macromolecules "insoluble in boiling n-heptane" with the structure "shown in FIGURE 2 of the accompanying drawing". **You build the property that made it famous**: an Arduino servo rig that folds a polypropylene living hinge thousands of times, beside PET film.
Intermediate
3 hours plus flex runs

Instructions

1

Cut the hinges

Cut 80 x 20 mm strips from 0.5 mm polypropylene and from PET film. Measure both thicknesses. Fold each sharply across the middle once and flatten the crease with a fingernail - flexing it right away is how moulded hinges are made too.

Materials for this step:

Polypropylene Sheet (A4)Polypropylene Sheet (A4)1 sheet
Mylar Stencil SheetMylar Stencil Sheet1 sheet

Tools needed:

Utility KnifeUtility Knife
Steel RulerSteel Ruler
Digital Caliper 6-InchDigital Caliper 6-Inch
2

Build the fixture

Screw two 100 x 50 mm pine blocks side by side. Hot-glue the servo to one so its shaft sits exactly on the crease line. Clamp one leaf of the hinge to the other block with a binder clip; hot-glue the free leaf to the servo horn.

Materials for this step:

Pine BoardPine Board1 piece
Wood ScrewsWood Screws2 pieces
SG90 Micro Servo Motor (5-Pack)SG90 Micro Servo Motor (5-Pack)1 pack

Tools needed:

Hot Glue GunHot Glue Gun
Large Binder ClipsLarge Binder Clips
Screwdriver SetScrewdriver Set
3

Wire and flash the counter

Servo signal to D9, power to 5V and GND; microswitch between D2 and GND. One SG90 can run from the Uno's 5 V pin - if the board resets under load, power the servo separately with a shared GND. Open the serial monitor at 115200.
living_hinge_flex_counter.inocpp
// Living-hinge flex counter - batch 97, US 3,112,300
// Flexes a hinge 0 -> 90 degrees and back, and stops every BLOCK cycles for you to inspect it.
// Servo signal -> D9, servo + -> 5V, servo - -> GND. Microswitch between D2 and GND.
#include <Servo.h>

Servo flexer;
const int SERVO_PIN  = 9;
const int BUTTON_PIN = 2;             // microswitch to GND, internal pull-up
const int OPEN_DEG   = 0;
const int CLOSED_DEG = 90;
const unsigned long MOVE_MS = 350;    // an SG90 needs roughly 0.3 s for 90 degrees
const unsigned long BLOCK   = 1000;   // cycles between inspections; make it smaller near failure
unsigned long cycles = 0;

void waitForButton() {
  while (digitalRead(BUTTON_PIN) == HIGH) {}
  delay(50);                          // debounce
  while (digitalRead(BUTTON_PIN) == LOW) {}
}

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(115200);
  pinMode(BUTTON_PIN, INPUT_PULLUP);
  flexer.attach(SERVO_PIN);
  flexer.write(OPEN_DEG);
  Serial.println(F("Mount the hinge, then press the switch to start."));
  waitForButton();
}

void loop() {
  flexer.write(CLOSED_DEG); delay(MOVE_MS);
  flexer.write(OPEN_DEG);   delay(MOVE_MS);
  cycles++;
  if (cycles % BLOCK == 0) {
    flexer.detach();                  // rest the servo while you look
    Serial.print(cycles);
    Serial.println(F(" cycles - inspect the crease. Intact? press the switch. Cracked? note it."));
    waitForButton();
    flexer.attach(SERVO_PIN);
  }
}

Materials for this step:

Microswitch (Lever Actuated)Microswitch (Lever Actuated)1 piece
Dupont Jumper Wire Set (M-F)Dupont Jumper Wire Set (M-F)1 set

Tools needed:

Arduino Uno R3Arduino Uno R3
Breadboard - ClassicBreadboard - Classic
SparkFun Cerberus USB Cable - 1.8 meterSparkFun Cerberus USB Cable - 1.8 meter
4

Run and inspect

Press the switch to start. Every 1000 cycles it stops: look at the crease under the loupe. Whitening is normal; a crack you can see through is failure. Record the last intact count, then run the other material.

Tools needed:

Magnifying LoupeMagnifying Loupe
5

Strain, counts, siblings

Loading Jupyter Notebook...
6

History & Context

**What the patent specifies:** high-molecular polypropylene made of isotactic macromolecules, insoluble in boiling n-heptane, with the structure of its FIGURE 2 (shown here). **Modern build (derived):** commercial PP sheet, creased by hand into a hinge. Montecatini began production in 1957. Moulded PP hinges now close most flip-top caps, and PP makes crates, car bumpers, rope and food tubs. Its limits: it turns brittle in deep cold, degrades in sunlight without stabilisers, and is hard to glue or paint.
Step 6 - Image 1

Materials

7

Tools Required

10

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