Taking its cues from computer-aided-design software, an extruder stacks thin layers of gooey thermoplastic that cure into shape.

FORBES: Almost Out of the Woods

The Mazda5's dashboard utterly tests one's appetite for molded thermoplastic, but it has the virtue of being well-organized and intuitive.

WSJ: 2012 Mazda5 Review: Yes to Convenience, No to Bloat | Rumble Seat by Dan Neil

Instead, the carbon fibre is shipped to SGL Automotive's German factory in Wackersdorf, where a thermoplastic material is injected to bind them together into reinforced plastic sheets.

BBC: Knitting and baking the cars of the future

One expert in the UAE has estimated that 70% of the high-rise buildings there have panel facade cladding made of a combustible thermoplastic core held between two sheets of aluminium.

BBC: 'Towering inferno' fears for Gulf's high-rise blocks

It is made from a recyclable, inert thermoplastic polymer used to store medicines a field where cork was abandoned 80 years ago thus answering many of the accusations hurled at plastic closures.

ECONOMIST: Plastic wine stoppers

It securely holds a tablet in place with non-slip rubber grip feet, and features durable thermoplastic components, an adjustable viewing angle, and the ability to fold up for easy storage and transport.

ENGADGET: IK Multimedia's iRig and iKlip STUDIO mobile peripherals learn to play nice with Android, stay friends with iOS

An odd way of kicking the tires, perhaps--unlike that of any of the seven previous potential buyers who visited privately held Plastron Industries, the maker of "bobbins, " thermoplastic parts for wound electronic components such as coils.

FORBES: The Race To Embrace