{"id":378,"date":"2015-09-05T19:37:00","date_gmt":"2015-09-05T19:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/05\/kevlar-2\/"},"modified":"2015-09-05T19:37:00","modified_gmt":"2015-09-05T19:37:00","slug":"kevlar-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/kevlar-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Kevlar"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe Genius of Stephanie Kwolek<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nMost of you know, by now, that I volunteer in the Children\u2019s
\nRoom of the Santa Fe  Library.  I am amazed every week by the number of
\nvolumes we have for children of all ages and the wide variety of topics these
\nbooks cover.  Last week I happened upon
\na book, quite by accident.  Here was the
\nstory of the DuPont chemist who discovered the formula for synthesizing the
\nfiber we know as Kevlar.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\nThe Woman Who Invented The Thread That Stops Bullets –<\/span><\/div>\n
\nThe Genius of Stephanie Kwolek, Edwin Brit Wyckoff, <\/span><\/div>\n
\nEnslow Publishers, Inc., Brooklyn Heights, NJ, 2014<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nBorn on July 31, 1923 in Kensington, Pennsylvania, Stephanie
\nKwolek had intended to become a physician. 
\nShe majored in chemistry at the Carnegie Institute of Technology,
\ngraduating in 1946.  Working at DuPont
\nwas meant to be a temporary stop on her way to a medical career.  She would remain at DuPont as a chemist for
\n40 years.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nIn 1964 she led a group of chemists searching for a
\nlightweight, super strong fiber for the manufacture of automobile tires.  Lighter weight tires could reduce gasoline
\nconsumption and there was anticipation of a shortage in the future. More than
\n100,000 chains of chemical polymers were produced but none had the desired
\nstrength.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n\"Kevlar_chemical_structure_H-bonds.png<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n

Poly-paraphenylene terephthalamide solution was cloudy and
\nthinner than other tested solutions. 
\nBeneath the microscope the chemical chains were straight and in
\nalignment after spinning. Testing proved the fibers to be five times stronger
\nthan steel.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\nIn 1966 Kwolek and Paul Morgan were granted patents for the
\nfiber, It would take five more years of research for DuPont to produce a fabric
\nthat could stop bullets.  More than 200
\nproducts are made from these super strong fibers.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Genius of Stephanie Kwolek Most of you know, by now, that I volunteer in the Children\u2019s Room of the Santa Fe  Library.  I am amazed every week by the number of volumes we have for children of all ages and the wide variety of topics these books cover.  Last week I happened upon a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}