NYLON

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NYLON
A Project by Deborah Francalanza

• Tutor Josanne Ghirxi B.Pharm (Hons), P.G.C.E.
• School St Benedict College, Margaret Mortimer
  GJL, Malta

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Nylon - Definition

• A generic classification for a family of
  synthetic polymers known as polyamides

• First produced on the 28th February 1935 by
  Wallace Hume Carothers, an American chemist, at
  DuPont

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DuPont Corporation

• An American chemical corporation
• Currently the world's second largest chemical
  company in terms of market capitalization
• Wallace Hume Carothers appointed as head of
  DuPont Organic Chemistry Department in 1927
• Carothers was born on the 27th April 1896 in
  Iowa and died in 1937

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Early history of nylon production

• To replace Asian silk with a similar, durable but
  less costly product
• Carothers produced half-an-ounce of a polymer
  (labelled as polyamide 6-6) at DuPont Corporation
  on 28th February 1935. The polymer was
  eventually developed into a commercial product -
  Nylon
• Early use of nylon was in parachutes, tyres,
  tents, ropes, ponchos and other military supplies

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Characteristics of nylon

• Varies in luster
• Durable and elastic
• Easy to wash and can dye
• High resistance to insects, fungi and chemicals
• Abrasion resistant
• Melts instead of burning

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Modern use of Nylon

• Clothing - footwear, velcro, carpet fibre
• Auto parts - petrol tanks, gears, bearings
• Abseiling gear - slings and ropes
• Sports items racquet strings, basketball
  netting, fishing lines
• Strings - music instruments
• Medical equipment - filtering media in
  sterilising, sutures

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Visit to Nylon Knitting Malta Limited

• Production of synthetic fibres and finished
  fabric used in diapers from raw material
• Raw material (PA6) arrives in big bags and
  unloaded into silos

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Extrusion and Spinning

• PA6 is fed to the extruder
• Heated into a molten state and pressure fed from
  the extruder via heated jacket tubes to spinning
  pumps
• Polymer is forced through a complex filtration
  system and finally through spinerettes
• Yarn is automatically wound on spools to a
  pre-determined weight

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Draw Warping and Warp Knitting

• Draw warping machine runs new load of yarn
  whereby beams with defined number of threads and
  meterage are produced
• Beams are loaded on knitting machines that
  produce fabric rolls of a chosen type, width, and
  length
• Finished rolls are transferred to packing
  machines, labelled, and checked prior exportation

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THANK YOU
NYLON