Aramid Fiber

Aramid Fiber
First U.S. Commercial Aramid Fiber Production: 1961, DuPont Company Current U.S. Aramid Fiber Producers: E.I. DuPont de Nemours Inc. Federal Trade Commission Definition for Aramid Fiber: A manufactured fiber in which the fiberformin substance is a !on "chain synthetic po!yamide in which at !east #$% of the amide &"C'"N(") !in*a es are attached direct!y between two aromatic rin s. &Comp!ete +,C +iber -u!es here.) Basic Principles of Aramid Fiber Production . Aramid is spun as a mu!tifi!ament by a proprietary process de/e!oped by DuPont Company Aramid Fiber Characteristics
o o o o
No me!tin point 0ow f!ammabi!ity 1ood fabric inte rity at e!e/ated temperatures Para"aramid fibers, which ha/e a s!i ht!y different mo!ecu!ar structure, a!so pro/ide outstandin stren th"to"wei ht properties, hi h tenacity and hi h modu!us.
Some major Aramid Fiber uses . +!ame"resistant c!othin , protecti/e /ests and he!mets, composites, asbestos rep!acement, hot air fi!tration fabrics, tire and mechanica! rubber oods reinforcement, ropes and cab!es, sai! c!oth, sportin oods.
Aramids
Aramids are a family of nylons includin! "ome#$ and %e&lar $. %e&lar $ is used to ma'e thin!s li'e bullet proof &ests and puncture resistant bicycle tires. ( suppose one could e&en ma'e bullet proof bicycle tires from %e&lar $ if one felt the need. Blends of "ome# and %e&lar $ are used to ma'e fireproof clothin!. "ome# $is )hat 'eeps the monster truc' and tractor dri&ers from burnin! to death should their fire*breathin! ri!s breathe a little too much fire. Than's to "ome# $ an important part of American culture can be practiced safely. 1
+Polymers play another part in the monster truc' sho) in the form of elastomers from )hich those !iant tires are made., "ome# $*%e&lar $ blends also protect fire fi!hters. %e&lar $ is a polyamide in )hich all the amide !roups are separated by para*phenylene !roups that is the amide !roups attach to the phenyl rin!s opposite to each other at carbons - and .. %e&lar $ is sho)n in the bi! picture at the top of the pa!e.
"ome# $ on the other hand has meta-phenylene !roups that is the amide !roups are attached to the phenyl rin! at the - an / positions.
%e&lar $ is a &ery crystalline polymer. (t too' a lon! time to fi!ure out ho) to ma'e anythin! useful out of %e&lar $ because it )ouldn0t dissol&e in anythin!. So processin! it as a solution )as out. (t )ouldn0t melt belo) a ri!ht toasty 122 oC so meltin! it do)n )as out too. Then a scientist named Stephanie %)ole' came up )ith a brilliant plan. Aramids are used in the form of fibers. They form into e&en better fibers than non*aromatic polyamides li'e nylon 3 3.
4hy5 4hy5
6' since it seems e&eryone just has to 'no) (0ll tell you. (t has to do )ith a little 7uir'y thin! that amides do. They ha&e the ability to adopt t)o different shapes or conformations. 8ou can see this in the picture of a lo) molecular )ei!ht amide. The t)o pictures are the same compound in t)o
different conformations. The one on the left is called the trans conformation and the one on the ri!ht is the cis* conformation.
(n 9atin trans means :on the other side:. So )hen the hydrocarbon !roups of the amide are on opposite sides of the peptide bond the bond bet)een the carbonyl o#y!en and the amide nitro!en its called a trans* amide. 9i'e)ise cis in 9atin means :on the same side: and )hen both hydrocarbon !roups are on the same side of the peptide bond )e call it a cis* amide.
The same amide molecule can t)ist bac' and forth bet)een the cis* and trans* conformations !i&en a little bit of ener!y. The same cis* and trans* conformations e#ist in polyamides too. 4hen all the amide !roups in a polyamide li'e nylon 3 3 for e#ample the polymer is fully stretched out in a strai!ht line. this is e#actly )hat )e )ant for fibers because lon! strai!ht fully e#tended chains pac' more perfectly into the crystalline form that ma'es up the fiber. But sadly there0s al)ays at least some amide lin'a!es in the cis* conformation. So nylon 3 3 chains ne&er become fully e#tended.
But %e&lar $ is different. 4hen it tries to t)ist into the cis* conformation the hydro!ens on the bi! aromatic !roups !et in the )ay; The cis conformation puts the hydro!ens just a little closer to each other than they )ant to be. So %e&lar $ stays nearly fully in the trans* conformation. So %e&lar can fully e#tend to form beautiful fibers.
"o) it may help to loo' at a close*up picture of this. 9oo' at the picture belo) and you can see that )hen %e&lar $ tries to form the cis* conformation there0s not enou!h room for the phenyl hydro!ens. So only the trans* conformation is usually found.
But there0s another polymer that stretches out e&en better called ultra*hi!h molecular )ei!ht polyethylene. (t e&en replaced %e&lar $ for ma'in! bullet* proof &ests; But bac' to %e&lar $ ... Also the phenyl rin!s of adjacent chains stac' on top of each other &ery easily and neatly )hich ma'es the polymer e&en more crystalline and the fibers e&en stron!er.

Aramid Fiber

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