Nylon
Nailon
- Date
- 1935–1939 · confidence high
- Place
- Wilmington, Delaware, United States (DuPont Experimental Station)
- Credited to
- Wallace Carothers (DuPont, 28-2-1935); nylon stockings launched 1939-1940
- People
- 👤 Wallace Carothers1896–1937
- Field
- Tools
What it is
First fully synthetic fibre, a polyamide obtained by condensation polymerisation. It replaced silk in stockings, parachutes and rope.
What it led to
- Synthetic fibres and the textile revolution (polyester, acrylic)
- Parachutes and tyres without Japanese silk during wartime
- Corporate basic research as a model for innovation
Built on
- Rayon (viscose)1884–1892
- Polymers as covalent macromolecules (Staudinger)1920-1922
- Condensation polymerization (Carothers)1929-1935
- Staudinger's macromolecular theory
- Neoprene (1930)