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E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company Stephanie Kwolek invented the synthetic

While working for DuPont, Kwolek invented Kevlar. In anticipation of a gas shortage, in 1964 her group began searching for a new lightweight strong fiber to use for light but strong tires. The polymers she had been working with at the time, poly-p-Phenylene-terephthalate and polybenzamide, formed liquid crystal while in solution, something unique to those polymers at the time. The solution was "cloudy, opalescent upon being stirred, and of low viscosity" and usually was thrown away. However the technician, Charles Smullen, who ran the "spinneret" persuaded Kwolek to test her solution, and was amazed to find that the fiber did not break, unlike nylon. Both her supervisor and laboratory director understood the significance of her discovery and a new field of polymer chemistry quickly arose. By 1971, modern Kevlar was introduced. However, Kwolek was not very involved in developing the applications of Kevlar.
Stefan Kevlar

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9y ago

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