Way back when I took first year chemistry I found the labs to be great fun. In one lab we made our own nylon. Now, actually wearing nylons is something I despise, one step down the slippery slope to high-heels (I'm 5'10”, I don't need to be taller) and caking my face with excessive make-up, not to mention an exponential requirement for more hairspray. It's probably obvious I'm not a girly-girl, nor ever plan on becoming one (if you are a girly-girl, go ahead and be girly, I'm not judging, it's just not my thing). But, making nylon intrigues me as I'm always interested in how things are made.
The invention of Nylon is credited to Wallace Carothers in 1935 at the DuPont Experimental Station. In 1930, Carothers with the folks at DuPont had their first success with what would be eventually called neoprene – the first synthetic rubber. Carothers and his team went on to tackle the creation what would become nylon. Unfortunately, Carothers tended to bouts of depression and alcoholism, and his actual contribution to the development of nylon probably wasn't significant. Instead his coworkers did the work and credited him. In 1937, Carothers committed suicide.
Nylon was the first synthetic fiber, in a 22 September 1938 New York Times article nylon was touted to be 'stronger than steel, fine as a spider's web, more elastic than any of the common natural fibers'. Once it was announced nylon could be knitted in to stockings that were better than silk people got excited. Ironically, the first commercial application turned out to be a nylon-bristled toothbrush. Nylon stockings were said to be indestructible (I've worn nylons enough times to know that isn't true). Today nylon fibers are the second most used synthetic fiber and can be found in all sorts of things like: fabrics, carpets, musical instrument strings and ropes. The down side to nylon is that in a fire it breaks down into nasty stuff like hazardous smoke and toxic fumes. Most nylon ends slowly decaying in landfill as recycling for it isn't widely implemented.
According to Wikipedia to make nylon, molecules with an acid group on each end are reacted with molecules containing an amine group on each end. They react and form long polymer chains – and that's is what nylon is, just a trade name for a synthetic polymers.
On to how we made nylon fiber in my first year lab. I poured one liquid very carefully over a the back of a metal spoon into a glass jug so it sat on top of another liquid without excess mixing. I had forgotten what the chemicals were, but a quick internet search gave me hexanedioxyl dichloride and diaminohexane. After a minute or so a layer formed between the two chemicals. With some tongs, I pulled out the interface, which had changed to nylon. As I pulled the two liquids would form new nylon when ever they came in contact with each other and I ended up with a long string of nylon. So, from the boundary between two liquids came a length of nylon thread.
Showing posts with label fiber. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fiber. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Bamboo – the grass that can be almost anything.
So what can I toss into a stir-fry, play a tune on, build scaffolding out of or put on a shirt made from? The answer is bamboo – the fastest growing member of the grass family. Right now I have several hand towels made of bamboo and a bag of bamboo shoots in the freezer. I'm debating planting some in my front yard (although it never looks healthy in neighboring yards so I might not) and flooring my house in it. Bamboo sounds like a miracle plant, but like everything it has a downside.
Wikipedia tells me that grasses can be considered the most important plant group. This group includes the grain and cereal crops people cultivate for food, wild grasses eaten by livestock or other animals, as well as bamboo, from which almost anything can be made. Bamboo shoots can be eaten, they are very tasty in a stir fry and they can be fermented into a sweet wine. Like other grasses, when bamboo is harvested it is cut, not dug up, so growing bamboo can add stability to soils and prevent erosion while producing a viable harvest.
Pesticides are not commonly used when cultivating bamboo. There are a few pests out there that like to munch on bamboo (I suppose pandas would be one), but they can be dealt with manually by cutting out the infested stems. Once the bamboo is harvested, pests become more of an issue. To prevent this, some large-scale operations treat the bamboo with a mixture that can include DDT. Dark flecks in the bamboo is often a hint that that bamboo has been treated this way. Once harvested, bamboo needs to cure. There are many ways this is done from soaking in water for months to burning techniques – it can even stored vertically and allowed to dry naturally. So, now the bamboo is ready to go.
Paper could be made through techniques mastered by the Chinese eons ago. Flutes could be made; I love the haunting sound that a bamboo flute can emit – it seems unearthly. Since I have no musical ability, I won't be making my own flute even though many websites exist to tell me how.
Bamboo fiber is becoming more and more available and is often touted as an eco-friendly option. Is it better than other fibers available? The answer is maybe; it depends how it was made. Bamboo can be made into fiber by two methods. The first, eco-friendly option is similar to how flax and hemp fiber is extracted. Stalks are crushed. Then natural enzymes take over breaking the fibers down more. Finally, the fibers can be combed out and used. The second method is essentially the same as how rayon is made from cotton. Harsh and toxic chemicals are used to break down the stalks and mechanical spinners extract the fibers. The label on my hand towels only say they are made from bamboo, not which method was used in the making of them.
If the first method is used, bamboo has a lot going for it. Like other natural fibers it is biodegradable. From the same sized space, bamboo produces ten times more fiber than cotton while requiring significantly less water. A website selling bamboo clothing says that bamboo fabric is soft (which is true of my towels), anti-fungal, anti-static and even cuts out most harmful UV rays. So, if you need a new shirt bamboo produced the right way is a great option. However, I don't recommend you throw out all your cotton shirts and replace them with bamboo - sometimes the most environmentally sensible option is to get the most wear and use out of the things you already have. But when your cotton shirts wear out, go shopping for a naturally prepared, bamboo shirt.
Wikipedia tells me that grasses can be considered the most important plant group. This group includes the grain and cereal crops people cultivate for food, wild grasses eaten by livestock or other animals, as well as bamboo, from which almost anything can be made. Bamboo shoots can be eaten, they are very tasty in a stir fry and they can be fermented into a sweet wine. Like other grasses, when bamboo is harvested it is cut, not dug up, so growing bamboo can add stability to soils and prevent erosion while producing a viable harvest.
Pesticides are not commonly used when cultivating bamboo. There are a few pests out there that like to munch on bamboo (I suppose pandas would be one), but they can be dealt with manually by cutting out the infested stems. Once the bamboo is harvested, pests become more of an issue. To prevent this, some large-scale operations treat the bamboo with a mixture that can include DDT. Dark flecks in the bamboo is often a hint that that bamboo has been treated this way. Once harvested, bamboo needs to cure. There are many ways this is done from soaking in water for months to burning techniques – it can even stored vertically and allowed to dry naturally. So, now the bamboo is ready to go.
Paper could be made through techniques mastered by the Chinese eons ago. Flutes could be made; I love the haunting sound that a bamboo flute can emit – it seems unearthly. Since I have no musical ability, I won't be making my own flute even though many websites exist to tell me how.
Bamboo fiber is becoming more and more available and is often touted as an eco-friendly option. Is it better than other fibers available? The answer is maybe; it depends how it was made. Bamboo can be made into fiber by two methods. The first, eco-friendly option is similar to how flax and hemp fiber is extracted. Stalks are crushed. Then natural enzymes take over breaking the fibers down more. Finally, the fibers can be combed out and used. The second method is essentially the same as how rayon is made from cotton. Harsh and toxic chemicals are used to break down the stalks and mechanical spinners extract the fibers. The label on my hand towels only say they are made from bamboo, not which method was used in the making of them.
If the first method is used, bamboo has a lot going for it. Like other natural fibers it is biodegradable. From the same sized space, bamboo produces ten times more fiber than cotton while requiring significantly less water. A website selling bamboo clothing says that bamboo fabric is soft (which is true of my towels), anti-fungal, anti-static and even cuts out most harmful UV rays. So, if you need a new shirt bamboo produced the right way is a great option. However, I don't recommend you throw out all your cotton shirts and replace them with bamboo - sometimes the most environmentally sensible option is to get the most wear and use out of the things you already have. But when your cotton shirts wear out, go shopping for a naturally prepared, bamboo shirt.
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