Fiber Definitions — textile fibers, yarn fibers and fiber properties from Apparel Search
Nylon is a synthetic polymer, a plastic, invented on February 28, 1935 by Wallace Carothers at the E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company of Wilmington, Delaware, USA. The material was announced in 1938 and the first nylon products were a nylon bristle toothbrush made with nylon yarn, on sale February 24, 1938, and more famously women's stockings, on sale May 15, 1940. Nylon fibers are now used to make many synthetic fabrics, and solid nylon is used as an engineering material. It was the first synthetic fiber to be made entirely from inorganic ingredients: coal, water and air.
Nylon is a synthetic polymer, a plastic, invented on February 28, 1935 by Wallace Carothers at the E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company of Wilmington, Delaware, USA. The material was announced in 1938 and the first nylon products; a nylon bristle toothbrush made with nylon yarn (went on sale on February 24, 1938) and more famously, women's stockings (went on sale on May 15, 1940). Nylon fibers are now used to make many synthetic fabrics, and solid nylon is used as an engineering material.
Chemically, nylon is a condensation polymer made of repeating units with amide linkages between them: hence it is frequently referred to as a polyamide. It was the first synthetic fiber to be made entirely from inorganic ingredients: coal, water and air. These are formed into two intermediate chemicals, most commonly hexamethylene diamine and adipic acid (a dicarboxylic acid), which are then mixed to polymerise. The most common variant is nylon 6,6, also called nylon 66, which refers to the fact that both the diamine and the diacid have 6 carbon backbones. The diacid and diamine units alternate in the polymer chain. Therefore, unlike natural polyamides like proteins, the direction of the amide bond reverses at each bond.
There is no evidence for the popular belief that "nylon" is a contraction of "NY" (for "New York") and "Lon" for "London", the two cities where the material was first manufactured. In 1940 John W. Eckelberry of Du Pont stated that the letters "nyl" were arbitrary and the "on" was copied from the names of other fibers such as cotton and rayon. A later publication by Du Pont (Context, vol. 7, no. 2, 1978) explained that the name was originally intended to be "No-Run" ("run" in this context meaning "unravel"), but was then modified to avoid making such an unjustified claim and to make it sound better. The story goes that Carothers changed one letter at a time until Du Pont's management were satisfied.
Another popular belief is that nylon stands for "now you, lazy old nippon," as nylon was developed in the 1930s. In this sentence nippon stands for Japan, as in the 1930s, the decade in which nylon was developed, a chemical "war" was taking place between the US and Japan.
Even though the word nylon was coined, it was never trademarked.
During World War II, nylon replaced Asian silk in parachutes. It was also used to make tires, tents, ropes, ponchos, and other military supplies. It was even used in the production of a high-grade paper for US currency. At the outset of the War, cotton accounted for more than 80 percent of all fibers used, and manufactured and wool fibers accounted for the remaining 20 percent. By August, 1945, manufactured fibers had risen to 25 percent, and cotton had dropped to 75 percent.
Some conspiracy theorists surmise that cannabis was made illegal because the fibers from the hemp plant, used for fabrics and ropes, were in strong competition with nylon. However, nylon fiber is more than twice as strong as hemp fiber and weighs 25% less. While hemp was originally used in climbing rope, it is now virtually unused in modern climbing, including countries where cannabis is legal.
| The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/nylon). 10/13/04 Modified by Apparel Search. |
Nylon's chemistry has one elegant peculiarity: the diacid and diamine units alternate in the polymer chain, so unlike natural polyamides like proteins, the direction of the amide bond reverses at each bond. That regularity is part of why nylon can be drawn into strong, uniform filaments, the property that made stockings possible and then made the fiber an engineering material in solid form. The raw materials underline how complete a break nylon was: coal, water and air, formed into hexamethylene diamine and adipic acid and polymerised, with no plant or animal anywhere in the process. Every later synthetic fiber followed the path nylon opened, but nylon was first, and the fiber market shares tell the story of that first generation: manufactured fibers rose from under 20 percent of all fibers at the start of the war to 25 percent by August 1945, with cotton falling correspondingly.
Some have surmised that cannabis was made illegal because hemp fibers, used for fabrics and ropes, competed with nylon. The fiber comparison itself is measurable: nylon fiber is more than twice as strong as hemp fiber and weighs 25 percent less. While hemp was originally used in climbing rope, it is now virtually unused in modern climbing, including in countries where cannabis is legal, which suggests the change in rope material follows performance rather than law. The episode is a useful lesson in reading fiber history: a new fiber displaces an old one when its measured properties, strength and weight here, suit the application better, and nylon's combination of strength, lightness and uniformity suited an extraordinary range of applications at once, from a toothbrush and a stocking to a parachute and a tire.
Chemically, nylon is a condensation polymer made of repeating units with amide linkages between them, and is therefore frequently referred to as a polyamide. The most common variant is nylon 6,6, also called nylon 66, referring to the fact that both the diamine and the diacid have 6 carbon backbones. The two intermediate chemicals most commonly used are hexamethylene diamine and adipic acid, which are mixed to polymerise.
There is no evidence for the popular belief that nylon is a contraction of NY for New York and Lon for London. In 1940 John W. Eckelberry of DuPont stated that the letters nyl were arbitrary and the on was copied from the names of other fibers such as cotton and rayon. A later DuPont publication explained the name was originally intended to be No-Run, modified to avoid making an unjustified claim and to sound better, and although the word nylon was coined, it was never trademarked.
During World War II, nylon replaced Asian silk in parachutes and was used to make tires, tents, ropes, ponchos and other military supplies, and even in the production of a high-grade paper for US currency. At the outset of the war cotton accounted for more than 80 percent of all fibers used; by August 1945 manufactured fibers had risen to 25 percent and cotton had dropped to 75 percent.