What specific demand from later 20th-century inventors drove innovation following Bakelite's success?

Creating polymers with specialized traits like lighter weights, flexibility, or unique chemical resistance.

The success of Bakelite proved the power of creating tailor-made, complex polymers, which spurred a massive wave of chemical exploration throughout the 20th century. While Bakelite excelled in rigidity and insulation, it was not optimized for every task. Therefore, subsequent inventors focused on exploring thousands of other chemical combinations to solve material challenges that Bakelite could not address. This next generation of development prioritized tailoring specific material attributes, such as achieving significantly lighter weights for transportation or applications, developing greater flexibility for tubing or wrapping, or engineering specialized resistance to specific chemical agents. This evolution led directly to the creation of substances like polyethylene and PVC.