galalith

thumb|upright=1.4|White galalith Royal Australian Air Force|RAAF pre-1953 [[buttons. (Top left button shows crazing resulting from button having been heated during washing.)]] thumb|300px|Chemical reaction of two proteins (top) with formaldehyde (H2CO) – schematic presentation. thumb|upright=1.4|Comb made from Galalith resembling ivory Galalith (Erinoid in the United Kingdom) is a synthetic plastic material manufactured by the interaction of casein and formaldehyde. The commercial name is derived from the Ancient Greek words (, "milk") and (, "stone"). It is odourless, hard, resists humidity to a certain degree, is antistatic, also an electrical insulator and virtually nonflammable. It was produced under a plethora of other commercial names such as aladdinite (in the US), Casolith (in the Netherlands) and lactoloid (in Japan).

==Discovery== In 1893, French chemist Auguste Trillat discovered the means to insolubilize (i.e., to make a substance incapable of being dissolved in a liquid, especially water) and harden considerably casein by immersion in formaldehyde, also preventing it from decomposing via micro-organisms and water like older 19th century "moldable casein" formulations preceding his discovery which had an extremely limited lifespan and low reliability overall due to lack of formaldehyde and using instead various stabilizing and preserving agents such as borax, various alkali salts and even lead based chemicals which revealed to be highly ineffective. The same year Trilliat produced viable samples for Huilliard company in their facilities in Suresnes, France, and later published the research leading to it (albuminoid materials reacted with formaldehyde, from 1888 to 1921), but said company disregarded these achievements and refused to produce the novel material. In 1897, Wilhelm Krische, a printer from Hanover, was commissioned to develop white, non-flammable, erasable chalkboards. He had difficulty in making the casein adhere to the supporting cardboard, and asked Swiss chemist (Friedrich) Adolph Spitteler (1846–1940) for help. The resultant horn-like plastic was unsuitable for the original purpose, but other applications were soon found. The name lactoform was originally proposed by the French, but the term galalith was kept.