Stephanie Kwolek

Morgan, Paul W., and Kwolek, Stephanie L. (1959). The Nylon Rope Trick. oMr-nal of Chemical Education 36 182-184. 

The first synthesis of Kevlar by solution polymerization was reported by S. L. Kwolek, P. W. Morgan, and W. R. Gorenson of DuPont in U. S. Patent 3,063,966 (1962). In 1980, Stephanie Kwolek won the American Chemical Society s Award for Creative Invention, and on July 22, 1995, she was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio. In 1996 Stephanie Kwolek was awarded... 

Innovative Lives Stephanie Kwolek and the invention of Kevlar. Smithsonian Institution, http //www.si.edu/lemelson/centerpieces/ilives/ Iecture05.html... 

Stephanie Louise Kwolek. Inventor of the Week Archives The Lemelson-MIT Prize Program, http //web.mit.edu/invent/www/inventorsl-Q/kwolek.html... 

When she first synthesized KEVLAR , Stephanie Kwolek did not know that it would eventually be used in bulletproof vests or protective gloves. She did, however, understand the theories behind the properties that make it suitable for such applications—the theories of intermolecular and intramolecular forces. This is not always the case. Often scientists discover a material that has useful or interesting properties, but are unable to explain them. 

During preceding decades, the discovery of new products such as Bakelite, nylon, rayon, celluloid, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, Saran , and Teflon convinced chemical corporations that such products held the key to an exciting and profitable future based on a host of amazing new "miracle" materials. Research departments around the world began the search for new materials with properties designed to meet a variety of special needs. One chemist who succeeded in this kind of project was Stephanie Kwolek. 

Cambridge Cambridge University Press, 1989), 425-439. See also the transcript of the Interviews of Stephanie Kwolek, conducted by the Program for Oral Flistory of the Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia. 

Stephanie Kwplek was assigned the task of featuring Stephanie Kwolek preparing fibers from completely para-substituted (Source Hagley Museum). aromatic polyamides. She succeeded in producing... 

Initial research in this area by Stephanie Kwolek working at Du Pont in 1965 discovered that p-aminobenzoic acid could be polymerized, and that the product could be solution spun to produce superior fibers [21]. Experience clearly established the commercial value of the highly ordered fibers produced [22]. Unfortunately the high cost of p-aminobenzoic acid discouraged pursuit of this approach. 

Stephanie Kwolek has seventeen patents, the first of which is for Kevlar. After creating a new polymer, she would spin them into fibers for strength and flexibility testing. Material for fibers of Kevlar was cloudy white instead of molasses brown, the first indication that she had uncovered an exceptional polymer. 

Stephanie Kwolek discovers a synthetic fiber, formed from liquid crystals in solution, that is stronger than steel and lighter than fiberglass. 

PAUL W. MORGAN, TERRY C. FLETCHER, and STEPHANIE L. KWOLEK... 

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