Nylon

Nylon was the first synthetic fiber and the first developed in the United States.The name nylon was chosen for the fiber, but the reason for that choice is not known. At the time there were no laws specifying generic name for fibers. Nylon has a combination of properties unlike any other fiber in use in the 1940s. It was stronger and more resistant to abrasion; it had excellent elasticity and could be heat set, permanent pleats became a reality. for the first time, gossamer-sheer fabrics were durable and machine washable. Nylon's high strength, light weight, and resistance to chemicals made it suitable for technical products such as ropes, cords, sails and parachutes. As nylon entered more end use markets, problems became apparent, such as static buildup, poor hand, poor comfort in skin contact fabrics, and low resistance to sunlight. As each problem appeared, solutions were developed.

Nylon or plamides are made from various substance. The numbers after the word nylon indictate the number of carbon atoms in the starting materials. Nylon 6,6 is made from hexamethlene diamine with six carbon atoms and adipic acid, also with six carbon atoms. While nylon 6,6 was being developed in the United States, scientist in Germany were working on Nylon 6. It is made frim a single six carbon substance, caprolactam.
 * Production of Nylon**

Characteristics of Nylon

 * Durability: excellent, with great abrasion resistance, tenacity, and elongation
 * Comfort: poor, with bad absorbency and only moderate heat retention
 * Appearance Retention: very good, with high resiliency, dimensional stability, and elastic recovery
 * Conveniently, in apparel use, it can be machine washed.

Nylon is a thermoplastic, silky material, first used commercially in a nylon- bristled toothbrush (1938), followed more famously by women's stockings ("nylons"; 1940). It is made of repeating units linked by amide bonds and is frequently referred to as // polyamide // (PA). Nylon was the first commercially successful synthetic polymer. There are two common methods of making nylon for fiber applications. In one approach, molecules with an acid (-COOH) group on each end are reacted with molecules containing amine (-NH2) groups on each end. The resulting nylon is named on the basis of the number of carbon atoms separating the two acid groups and the two amines. These are formed into monomers of intermediate molecular weight, which are then reacted to form long polymer chains.

Nylon was intended to be a synthetic replacement for silk and substituted for it in many different products after silk became scarce during World War II. It replaced silk in military applications such as parachutes and flak vests, and was used in many types of vehicle tires.

Solid nylon is used for mechanical parts such as machine screws, gears and other low- to medium-stress components previously cast in metal. Engineering-grade nylon is processed by extrusion, casting , and injection molding. Solid nylon is used in hair combs.

Type 6,6 Nylon 101 is the most common commercial grade of nylon, and Nylon 6 is the most common commercial grade of molded nylon. For use in tools such as the spudger, a nylon is available in glass-filled variants which increase structural and impact strength and rigidity, and molybdenum sulfide-filled variants which increase lubricity.

Nylon is apart of the polyamides family It is one of the most commonly used polymers. Nylon is a thermoplastic, silky material, first used commerically in a nylon-bristled toothbrush (1938) and then womens stockings (1940) Is is made up of repeating units linked by amide bonds. Nylon is made up of Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen and Hydrogen. The uses for nylon include: 1. seat belts, fishing net, ropes, parachutes, and similar cords. 2. used for making fabrics in the textile industry. 3. used to make elastic hosiery, pantyhose. 4. used as a plastic to make machine parts. 5. blended with wool to make the material stronger. 6. Nylon's chemical formula is nHOOC-(CH2)4-COOH+n H2N-(CH2)6-NH2>[-OC-( CH2)4-CO-NH-





This is the jmol for the chemical structure of nylon. [|Nylon_3D.png]

This chemical used to be used to make tires, tents, ropes, panchos and some military supplies. It was also used in the production of US currency. These days it is also used for mean wrappings and sausage sheaths.