I am looking for a cheap, heatproof plastic that is suitable for use in flasks. Any ideas?
The highest melting point plastic I found was Polyether ether ketone (PEEK) with a melting point of 640°F. Glass melts at 2600-2900 °F, so plastic flasks are not a viable alternative to glass. The bunsen burner flame using natural gas has a maximum temperature of 3562°F. I suppose you could argue that if liquid was in the flask, the liquid temperature would cool the base of the plastic flask, so it would might work. But plastic is a good insulator as well, so the plastic might start to melt even with liquid in the flask. And if the water boiled away, the flask would melt for sure, unlike a Pyrex glass flask.
