Today, when most consumers prefer clothes made from natural fabrics, it is surprising to see a general craze for synthetics that swept the world and Soviet society in the late fifties and early sixties of the XX century. At that time, bright shirts and socks brought from behind the hill were very fashionable for us, dudes paid crazy money for them, and besides aesthetic pleasure, they found other advantages in the form of high consumer qualities.
It was easy to wash these things, they dried incredibly fast, practically did not need ironing, and besides they did not fade. It seemed that nylon is a symbol of scientific and technological progress, followed by the future, very little time will pass, and the whole world will dress in things from this material.
Chemical aspects
In fact, in the fifties he was no longer new. If you turn to an expert in organic chemistry for explanations, he will answer that, in essence, nylon is a polyamide.
Without going into scientific subtleties, anyone who has taken school courses can imagine a chain of molecules, elongated in length and consisting of the same units. To give the material any special properties, the bulk polymer structure can be changed by adding branches and inserts, but, in general, the chemical composition of nylon is very simple, it is synthesized from three completely natural substances: air, coal and water. The monomer, that is, the amide, combines with similar molecules and forms a polymer that is very strong and resistant to most types of aggressive influences.
When nylon stockings were a luxury
For the first time, the amide polymerization reaction was carried out by specialists of the American company DuPont in 1930. After almost a decade, the same company began producing women's stockings, which immortalized its name, and thanks to which it was fabulously enriched. This piquant item of women's wardrobe soon accomplished what the most formidable dictators of the 20th century could not do. Nylon stockings conquered the world.
In the early years of market monopoly domination of a new DuPont product, these piquant products were expensive, such is the law of capitalism. Then there were competitors, and stockings became more affordable luxury for residents of those countries where they were produced. However, in post-war Europe and the USSR they speculated.
Nylon and pre-war expectations
At the same time, when American polymer stockings walked around the planet, other, much less pleasant and beautiful events took place in world politics. Mankind was on the verge of a massive world carnage. The upcoming war required resources, the most diverse. It was necessary to produce tens and hundreds of millions of tons of military products, including the one for which natural and expensive components were needed as raw materials. During World War I, parachutes were sewn from natural silk, while automobile and aircraft tires were made from rubber. There were few cars and airplanes, and warring countries could afford such a luxury. In the late thirties, the production of military equipment increased sharply. And then it turned out that nylon is not just material for stockings.
Strategic material
The military use of this polymer has proven to be very wide. During World War II and subsequent wars, a lot of them were made of it, which requires strong fiber. A special kind of DuPont nylon is called Kevlar, and the fact that it is five times stronger than steel allowed it to be used for the manufacture of body armor worn by American soldiers in the second half of the Vietnam War.
Since 1939, natural rubber has become a strategic commodity, and its delivery from the British colonies is extremely difficult. In the production of machinery parts previously made from this natural polymer, nylon was used. This solved the issue of treads, soles of soldiers' boots and many other problems.
In the 21st century, many technical tools appeared that previous generations had never dreamed of. After the invention of compact radars installed on airplanes, ships and missiles, the question arose of creating radiotransparent fairings. Metal, for obvious reasons, is not suitable for this purpose, it screens the signal. Typically, in these cases, polyester or nylon is used.
And again the clothes
Water resistance is both an advantage and a disadvantage of clothes sewn from polymer cloths. The inability of this material to “breathe” creates a lot of inconvenience, things “soar”. However, technologists have learned to deal with this problem by creating membrane and perforated materials. Modern nylon is a high-tech fabric, sometimes capable of one-sided conductivity of water molecules, resistant to UV radiation and heat (unlike analogues of the 40-60s).
However, when washing clothes made of this material, it should be remembered that nylon does not tolerate the effects of chlorine contained in many powders. You need to be very careful about ironing. However, these shortcomings, perhaps, will soon be eliminated by the efforts of chemical technologists working at manufacturing companies of this material.