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Zylon

JD

Josh Don

Transcript

High thermal stability

  • Can maintain its structure at temperatures approaching 1000K
  • Important for applications involving fire/heat protection, and high-temperature environments
  • Must still be stable after a cycle of heating/cooling

Very high tensile strength, tensile modulus (elasticity) , creep resistance (retaining original shape after stress), knot/loop strength, heat capacity, and moderate chemical/abrasion resistance

  • Essential qualities for a high-strength fiber
  • Put under a great deal of tension/stress: has to be able to maintain shape, without elongating or breaking

The Wonderful Zylon

by Josh Don and Neil Argade

Knowledge(Priceless)

Polymer Applications

"The World's Strongest Fiber"

Production Levels

Synthesization

For the most part, Zylon is used by itself, woven into a braid

  • Potential application: Zylon can be coated with conductive material to allow it to conduct electricity

Toyobo only manufactures the Zylon

itself; other companies use the Zylon to make bullet-proof vests, cables, etc.

As a high-strength synthetic fiber, Zylon can be woven like a rope or a braid, capitalizing on its high tensile strength

While the exact manufacturing details are a company secret, these are the basics of producing Zylon:

  • Main ingredient: the polymer, p-phenylene benzobisoxazole
  • Zylon is made by extruding this polymer through a spinning apparatus
  • A strong acid is required for manufacturing, since Zylon is insoluble in organic solvents
  • Zylon gets its properties both due to its chemical structure and how it is manufactured

Before 2005, Zylon was commonly used in bullet-proof vests, but recently this is no longer the case, due to concerns of reliability

It is so strong, a strand one millimeter in diameter can hold up 450 kg

Zylon is purchased globally by governments,

educational institutions, and commercial

businesses for a variety of uses

End product is Zylon fiber, to be sold to other companies

The polymer is a condensation polymer because the crystalline solutions are spun using dry-jet wet spinning

It is an alternating copolymer made up of the monomers phenylene and benzobisoxazole

It is crosslinked using electron beam radiation

Plasticizers are used for added stability and tensile strength

Zylon is an elastomer meaning it is similar to rubber

Infrared spectroscopy is used to analyze the purity

Physical Properties

Structure -> Properties

Lifecycle and Environmental Impact

Aromatic ring

Depending on the application, the Zylon fibers may degrade quickly

  • Lifecycle reduced by direct sun exposure, abrasion, and seawater
  • A bullet-proof vest made with Zylon has a life expectancy of 3 years

Polymer strands can take advantage of pi-pi stacking via aromatic rings. This leads to Zylon's high tensile strength; Ladder-like rigid structure

At temperatures approaching pyrolytic

decomposition, the polymer actually becomes more crystallized, preserving shape.

Can be recycled, otherwise will end up in a landfill; potential for environmental harm

Resistant to humidity, heat, and direct flame

Zylon

C14H6O2N2

Structure

poly(p-phenylene benzobisoxazole) a.k.a PBO

The structure is both linear and complex because each monomer is linked to the end of the other; however, they are also stacked on top of each other.

The chains are aligned in a crystalline manner

The functional groups present in the monomer from left to right:

benzobisoxazole - benzene molecule (hexagonal structure) attached on both sides by oxazoline molecules (pentagonal structures with nitrogen and oxygen)

phenylene (C6H5) - benzene derivative which attaches to the benzobisoxazole

These combine in links to form hexagonal patterns like:

References

Alternatives?

For the manufacturing of body armor, Kevlar is the main competitor

  • Kevlar is also synthetic
  • Kevlar may be more reliable as a bullet-proof material
  • Kevlar can also be used as an alternative fiber material

Frings, PH; Hennes, E; Hwang, YK. Mechanical Properties of Zylon/epoxy Composite. UVA Science. [Online] 2000. pp 1-11.

Toyobo. Toyobo.com. http://ddq74coujkv1i.cloudfront.net/_misc/BodyArmor/MehlerZylon_DSM.pdf (accessed February 26, 2014). Toyobo is the developer of Zylon.

Quora.com. http://www.quora.com/Materials-Science/Why-does-Zylon-have-such-a-high-tensile-strength (accessed March 5, 2014). Answers questions about Zylon's tensile strength.

Fukumaru; Fujigaya; Nakashima. Extremely High Thermal Resistive Poly(p-phenylene benzobisoxazole) with Desired Shape and Form from a Newly Synthesized Soluble Precursor. Macromolecules. [Online] 2012, 45 (10) pp 4247-4253

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ma3006526 (accessed February 24, 2014).

Tamargo-Martinez et al. Studies on Thermal Degradation of Poly(p-phenylene benzobisoxazole); Instituto Nacional del Carbon, Oviedo Spain, 2003.

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/cm034336u (accessed February 24, 2014

Toyobo CO., LTD. PBO Fiber Zylon; F0461K, 2009.

http://www.nuui.com/Sections/Technology/Zylon/zylon_technical.pdf (accessed February 24, 2014).

Technical F1. F1 Dictionary. Zylon. http://www.formula1-dictionary.net/zylon.html (accessed March 3, 2014).

More Structure

Origin of Zylon

Zylon is a synthetic polymer developed in the 1980s, and is currently manufactured by Toyobo in Japan

  • Synthetic polymer created as an alternative to other high-strength fibers

Zylon also competes with other

high-strength fibers

  • E.g. Vectran

Among the uses of Zylon include:

  • Protective/heat-resistant clothing
  • Bullet-proof vests
  • Tennis racket strings
  • Yacht ropes
  • Hot-air balloons
  • Cement reinforcement
  • Heat resistant felt
  • Thread/rope

Zylon has greater tensile strength than that of Kevlar because its chains are larger and more aromatic. These pi-pi interactions allow the chains to orient along a direction better.

Zylon is essentially a high-strength fiber, similar to Kevlar

Time(s)