50 Fun Facts About Nylon

Which chemist synthesised the first nylon, nylon 66, at DuPont on February 28, 1935?

He had been hired from Harvard in 1928 to run DuPont's pure-research polymer group; his team had already made neoprene in 1930.

Which earlier cellulose-based DuPont fibre was an important precursor to nylon?

DuPont's experience with rayon fed directly into how it developed and marketed nylon over an eleven-year programme from 1927 to 1938.

Which milestone does Wikipedia credit nylon with?

DuPont's earlier work on the cellulose-based fibre rayon was an important precursor.

What was the first commercial product to use nylon, in 1938?

Stockings followed the next year at the New York World's Fair and sold 64 million pairs in their first year on the market.

How many pairs of nylon stockings were sold in their first year on the market?

They cost about one and a half times as much as silk, but rising hemlines created demand for stockings that stayed up without garters.

Where and when did the first public sale of nylon stockings take place?

All 4,000 pairs sold within three hours; the national release to selected stores came on May 15, 1940.

According to DuPont's own 1978 account, the name 'nylon' was originally intended to be what?

Since stockings were not truly run-proof, the vowels were swapped to 'nuron', then 'nilon' to sound less like a nerve tonic, then 'nylon' for pronunciation.

Which persistent urban legend about the origin of the name 'nylon' does Wikipedia reject?

No organisation in London was ever involved in the research or production of nylon.

From what three raw materials did DuPont's marketing say nylon was made?

The company retreated from claims that nylon was 'as strong as steel' and would never run, and instead sold it as pretty and quick-drying.

A damaging news story suggested nylon might be made from which chemical extracted from corpses?

Scientists pointed out that cadaverine can also be obtained by heating coal, but one woman confronted a DuPont scientist and refused to believe it.

On what date was nylon publicly announced, at the Herald Tribune's 'Forum on Current Problems'?

It was billed as 'the first man-made organic textile fibre', 'as strong as steel, as fine as the spider's web', to an audience largely of middle-class women.

Where was DuPont's first nylon plant, which began commercial production on December 15, 1939?

It provided 1,800 jobs and was named a National Historic Chemical Landmark in 1995; a second plant opened in Martinsville in 1941.

How did the wartime move to nylon help the US politically, according to DuPont's pitch?

Roosevelt's cabinet discussed nylon's 'vast and interesting economic possibilities' five days after the announcement.

From February 11, 1942, most nylon production went to the military for what?

Pre-war stockings changed hands on the black market for as much as $20 a pair.

In one of the worst 'nylon riots' of 1945-46, how many women queued in Pittsburgh, and for how much stock?

DuPont had promised 360 million pairs a year but could not convert back from wartime production fast enough; fights broke out.

What did women do with surplus wartime nylon military gear when stockings were scarce?

Between the war's end and 1952, stockings and lingerie consumed 80% of the world's nylon.

How did women fake stockings during the wartime shortage?

Lotions, creams and spray-on 'liquid hosiery' were also used; one Louisiana home was robbed of 18 pairs of nylons.

What was the model who wore nylon stockings at the 1939 World's Fair called?

Up to 4 million pairs were bought in a single day once the product caught on.

Which Fats Waller song described the wartime stocking shortage?

George Marion Jr. wrote the words, which look forward to 'a world that Mr. Wallace planned'.

How did nylon's inventor die in April 1937?

He was found in a Philadelphia hotel room with a squeezed lemon and cyanide salt; his daughter Jane was born seven months later.

How long before nylon's public announcement did Carothers die?

He felt he had accomplished little and run out of ideas, despite becoming the first industrial organic chemist elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

What other famous polymer did Carothers' team synthesise in spring 1930, before nylon?

The synthetic rubber was widely used in World War II; the second discovery that spring was an elastic paste that later became nylon.

Which technique, first used by Julian Hill on a polyester in 1930, did Carothers apply to develop nylon?

Hill was a Washington University alumnus and Carothers' co-worker; DuPont patented the polymer in September 1938.

Which German chemist at IG Farben developed nylon 6, based on caprolactam, in January 1938?

Nylon 6 melts at 220 C, lower than nylon 66's 265 C, and is made by ring-opening polymerisation.

What was Carothers' monthly salary at DuPont, compared with $267 at Harvard?

He first refused the job, warning that he suffered 'neurotic spells of diminished capacity', until executive Hamilton Bradshaw travelled to Harvard to persuade him.

What was the name of the Wilmington house Carothers shared with three other DuPont scientists from 1931?

He was no recluse, but his depressive moods often kept him from joining his housemates' activities.

What type of chemical linkage defines nylons?

That is why 'PA', for polyamide, is used interchangeably with 'nylon'.

In the name nylon 6,6, what do the two numbers refer to?

Nylon 66 is made from hexamethylenediamine and adipic acid; a single number, as in nylon 6, means one amino-acid-type monomer.

Why is a crystalline 'nylon salt' made before polymerising nylon 66?

Wrong proportions terminate the chains below the desired 10,000 daltons; the salt is then heated to 285 C to form the polymer.

What is the melting point of nylon 66?

Nylon 6 melts at 220 C; copolymers lower crystallinity and melt lower still.

What was the estimated worldwide production of nylon as of 2020?

Consumption grew 7.5% a year between the 1960s and 1980s even as synthetics lost their novelty appeal.

What flaw did nylon stockings suffer that scientists blamed on acid hydrolysis from London smog in 1952?

Poor air in New York and Los Angeles caused the same problem; blends with cotton, polyester and spandex were the fix.

Which three French designers showed gowns made from DuPont fibres in 1955?

DuPont's Fabric Development Department had cleverly seeded them with samples and hired Horst P. Horst to photograph the results.

What label did America's Textile Reporter give to 1951?

Blends like 'Bunara' (wool-rabbit-nylon) and 'Casmet' (wool-nylon-fur) appeared, and the Army committed to a wool-nylon mix.

What famous object of the Apollo 11 mission was made of nylon?

The Lunar Flag Assembly cost $5.50 but needed a special pole with a horizontal bar so it would appear to fly.

How much did Apollo 11's nylon flag itself cost?

One historian calls nylon 'an object of desire', comparing it to Coca-Cola in the eyes of 20th-century consumers.

The frame of which modern pistol is made from a nylon composite?

Nylon also formed the stock of the Remington Nylon 66 rifle, and molded nylon replaces metal in gears, gaskets and combs.

Which two grades are most used for filaments such as brush bristles and fishing line?

Nylon 610's high hydrocarbon content makes it more water-repellent, which suits bristles; nylon is also a common 3D-printer filament.

Nylon has long been described as the most popular fibre type in which industry?

The US EPA estimated that in 2018 only 9.2% of carpet material was recycled and 73% went to landfill.

Which struggling DuPont division was rescued by supplying nylon's high-pressure ingredients?

Nylon reactants soon made up half its sales; production also involved the Chemical Research and Rayon departments.

How much more expensive per pound was nylon than silk when stockings launched?

Shorter skirts and the wish to avoid garters helped drive sales anyway.

Which pioneering German polymer chemist's theories was Carothers hired to build on and test at DuPont?

Staudinger's macromolecule ideas were controversial at the time; Carothers' work greatly improved the understanding of polymers.

Which DuPont executive proposed in 1927 the 'pioneering research' teams that led to nylon?

The invention spanned eleven years, from that 1927 polymer programme to the public announcement in 1938.

In which Virginia town did DuPont open a second nylon plant in 1941 to meet demand?

Production had reached 1,300 tons in 1940 alone, the year of nylon's nationwide release.

How many pairs of stockings a year did DuPont project it would make after the war?

Delays converting back from wartime production meant demand went unmet in 1946, triggering the nylon riots.

Between the end of the war and 1952, what share of the world's nylon went into stockings and lingerie?

The fabric's lack of absorbency, itchiness and static cling later pushed makers to blend it with cotton, polyester and spandex.

By roughly what percentage a year did nylon textile consumption grow between the 1960s and 1980s?

Even so, synthetics' share of world textile output fell from 63% in 1965 to 45% in the early 1970s as the novelty wore off.

What is DuPont's trade name for its PA66 nylon resin?

Ultramid is BASF's brand and Durethan is Lanxess's; DuPont's Selar PA is an amorphous grade.

What happens to nylon fabric when exposed to flame?

Nylon 6 has a lower melting point of 220 °C than nylon 66, which makes it easier to dye but quicker to fade.

According to the US EPA, what share of carpet material was sent to landfill in 2018?

Only 9.2% was recycled and 17.8% incinerated for energy, despite nylon's dominance in residential carpet.