A thermoplastic is a type of plastic made from polymer resins that becomes a homogenized liquid when heated and hard when cooled.
As similar as colonial iron manufacture was to that of medieval Europe, yet it differed greatly from the type of iron manufacture in eighteenth century early modern Europe. Existing conditions of natural resources greatly affected the development of technical innovation in the field of iron manufacture.
As with other of the so-called minor metals, most of the world's antimony comes from China; it has for nearly a hundred years. (It is interesting to note, though, that the run-up in the price of the metal those 90 or so years ago stimulated production elsewhere around the globe.