Kevlar polyamides

Most fiber reinforcements on the market have been surface-treated for the convenience of composite production. Organic fibers, such as polyamide (Kevlar, DuPont), pofyamide coated polyester fiber (COlbadc, BASF (26) can also be used. 

Aromatic polyamide Kevlar Du Pont 220 — v-0 Reinforcing fibre... 

Solutions of [PcCo(CN)] and the aromatic polyamide Kevlar in concentrated H2SO4 can be wet-spun to produce flexible darkly colored fibres. Even... 

The same polyester can be fabricated into a particularly strong film called Mylar. Mylar polyester film is used for the long-term protection of artwork and historical documents because of its transparency, strength, and inertness. Mylar is popular for its use in the manufacture of balloons for festive occasions. Mylar was also used to cover the 94-foot wingspan of the Gossamer Albatross, a human-powered aircraft used to fly the English Channel in 1979. Only two pounds of the polyester was needed to cover the entire wingspan, and the polyamide Kevlar was the material used for construction of the rudder of this aircraft In the United States, production of polyester fibers exceeds 3 billion pounds per year. 

PcCoCN shows unique properties e.g. it can be dissolved in cone. H SO and CF SO H. From sulfuric acid solutions of PcCoCN containing the e.g. polyamide Kevlar flexible fibres can be spun which show good antistatic properties without doping. 

Applications. The polyamides have important appHcations. The very high degree of polymer orientation that is achieved when Hquid crystalline solutions are extmded imparts exceptionally high strengths and moduli to polyamide fibers and films. Du Pont markets such polymers, eg, Kevlar, and Monsanto has a similar product, eg, X-500, which consists of polyamide and hydra2ide-type polymers (31) (see High performance fibers Polyamides, fibers). 

Similady, hquid-crystal polymers exhibit considerable order in the hquid state, either in solution (lyotropic) or melt (thermotropic). When crystallized from solution or melt, they have a high degree of extended-chain crystallinity, and thus have superior mechanical properties. Kevlar (Du Pont) is an aromatic polyamide (atamid) with the repeating unit designated as (2). It is spun into... 

The primary driving forces behind investigation of new solvents include environmental concerns and the abiUty to form Hquid crystals in the new solvent systems. By analogy with Kevlar, a synthetic aromatic polyamide fiber, spinning from a Hquid crystalline solution should yield cellulose fibers with improved strength, as has been demonstrated in laboratory experiments. 

Aramid Fibers. Aromatic polyamide fibers exhibiting a range of mechanical properties are available from several manufacturers, perhaps the best known being Du Pont s proprietary fiber Kevlar. These fibers possess many unique properties, such as high specific tensile strength and modulus (see Fig. 4). Aramid fibers have good chemical resistance to water, hydrocarbons, and solvents. They also show excellent flame retardant characteristics (see High PERFORMANCE fibers Polyamdes). 

In 1973 Du Pont commenced production of another aromatic polytunide fibre, a poly-(p-phenyleneterephthalamide) marketed as Kevlar. It is produced by the fourth method of polyamide production listed in the introductory section of this chapter, namely the reaction of a diamine with a diacid chloride. Specifically, p-phenylenediamine is treated with terephthalyl chloride in a mixture of hexamethylphosphoramide and V-methylpyrrolidone (2 1) at -10°C Figure 18.32). 

The reinforcing filler usually takes the form of fibres but particles (for example glass spheres) are also used. A wide range of amorphous and crystalline materials can be used as reinforcing fibres. These include glass, carbon, boron, and silica. In recent years, fibres have been produced from synthetic polymers-for example, Kevlar fibres (from aromatic polyamides) and PET fibres. The stress-strain behaviour of some typical fibres is shown in Fig. 3.2. 

Fibers in which the basic chemical units have been formed by chemical synthesis, followed by fiber formation, are called synthetic fibers. Examples include nylon, carbon, boron fibers, organic fibers, ceramic fibers, and metallic fibers. Among all commercially available fibers, Kevlar fibers exhibit high strength and modulus. (Kevlar is a DuPont trademark for poly [p-phenylene diamine terephthalamide].) It is an aromatic polyamide (aramid) in which at least 85% of the... 

Fluoroelastomers Novikova et al. [32] reported unproved physico-mechanical properties of fluoro mbbers by reinforcement with chopped polyamide fibers. Other fiber reinforcements are covered by Grinblat et al. [33]. Watson and Francis [34] described the use of aramid (Kevlar) as short fiber reinforcement for vulcanized fluoroelastomer along with polychloroprene mbber and a co-polyester TPE in terms of improvement in the wear properties of the composites. Rubber diaphragms, made up of fluorosilicone mbbers, can be reinforced using aramid fiber in order to impart better mechanical properties to the composite, though surface modification of the fiber is needed to improve the adhesion between fluorosUicone mbber and the fiber [35]. Bhattacharya et al. [36] studied the crack growth resistance of fluoroelastomer vulcanizates filled with Kevlar fiber. 

For example, there is a dramatic improvement in modulus, tensile strength, and thermal stability when the aliphatic components in polyamides (nylons) are replaced by aromatic components, resulting in polyaramides such as Kevlar (29). Likewise, poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK), one of the mechanically strongest condensation... 

Polymers that contain amide linkage groups are called polyamides. Proteins, which are biological polyamides, are described in Section 13-1. Here we focus on two commercially important polyamides Nylon 66 and Kevlar. 

Many other useful pol3Tners can be made by combining different diamines and diacids. One example is Kevlar, a polyamide made by condensing terephthalic acid with phenylenediamine ... 

An increase in rod-like arrangement of the macromolecules can also arise by stretching a polymer either in its solid state, either in the melt or even in solution (for polymers leading to lyotropic liquid crystals such as aromatic polyamides). This is the basis of the development of synthetic fibres including high modulus polyethylene Dyneema , polyamide Nylons and Kevlar , polyester Tergal or Dacron fibres. 

Both low molecular weight materials [145] and polymers [146,147] can show liquid crystallinity. In the case of polymers, it frequently occurs in very stiff chains such as the Kevlars and other aromatic polyamides. It can also occur with flexible chains, however, and it is these flexible chains in the elastomeric state that are the focus of the present discussion. One reason such liquid-crystalline elastomers are of particular interest is the fact that (i) they can be extensively deformed (as described for elastomers throughout this chapter), (ii) the deformation produces alignment of the chains, and (iii) alignment of the chains is central to the formation of liquid-crystalline phases. Because of fascinating properties related to their novel structures, liquid-crystalline elastomers have been the subject of numerous studies, as described in several detailed reviews [148-150]. The purpose here will be to mention some typical elastomers exhibiting liquid crystallinity, to describe some of their properties, and to provide interpretations of some of these properties in molecular terms. 

Duvis, T., Papaspyrides, C.D. and Skourlis, T. (1993). Polyamide coating on carbon fibers and potential application in carbon/Kevlar/epoxy hybrid composites. Composites Sci. Technol. 48, 127-133. 

Working with a solution is needed for polymers which above their melting point would degrade (example aromatic polyamide fibres such as Kevlar and Twaron). For fibres the removal of the solvent is not too problematic. In e.g. injection moulding applications solvents caimot be used here thermotropic LCP s have to be used. Since these would degrade during processing, they are diluted by copolymerisation (example poly-hydroxy-benzoic acid - co - PETP)... 

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