-the invention of nylon 1933

In 1930s, the invention of carothers, the "father of nylon", was like a blockbuster, which caused a global "nylon commotion".

Before nylon was invented, human beings could only rely on the gift of nature to weave with silk, wool and cotton. However, the gift of nature is limited after all, so human beings are eager to find another way to invent something that can replace natural fibers. The historical opportunity was given to Valletto Hume carothers.

Wallace Hume Carothers was born in Burlington, USA on 1896. 192 1 studied at the university of Illinois and obtained a master's degree in organic chemistry. 1924 received a doctorate in organic chemistry, and then gave lectures and research at Harvard university. From 65438 to 0928, DuPont, founded by French-American dupont family, hired him as the research director of organic chemistry in Delaware laboratory.

During this period, carothers carefully studied the polycondensation discovered by German polymer chemist staudinger. About 193 1 year ago, he and his research team found that when the molecular polymerization degree of a substance is greater than a certain value, it can be spun into silk and then cooled, and a fibrous filament with certain toughness can be obtained, which can be stretched several times. Can such fiber silk be woven instead of natural fibers such as silk? From 1933 to 1934, carothers and his assistants synthesized hundreds of nylon fibers. 1935, they finally invented a synthetic fiber with good flexibility and high tensile strength, and named it nylon -66.

Because this kind of nylon -66 is synthesized by using chemical elements such as carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen which are easily extracted from air, water, coal or oil, the cost is low. 1939, DuPont soon began large-scale industrial production, and announced that it was "a nylon yarn finer than spider silk, stronger than steel wire and with beautiful luster".

Nylon -66 first entered the socks market, when DuPont covered nylon stockings with a 30-foot thigh model to promote it. Women in western countries like to wear light socks. The original socks made of cotton fiber and wool are not suitable for this requirement and look heavy. Silk is expensive, while socks made of nylon are thin, light, strong and elastic, which are of course widely favored by consumers. From 1938 to the end of 1939, nylon stockings spread all over the United States from trial production to large-scale listing, and then became popular all over the world. Various countries introduced patents to build factories and put them into production. At that time, women all over the world bought more than 4 million pairs of nylon stockings every day, which was called "Nylon Fury" by the news media.

The popularity of nylon stockings also brought the popularity of short skirts. Thin and elastic nylon stockings has replaced the relatively bloated and rough cotton and linen fabrics, and women are willing to show their beautiful legs more. After World War II, many soldiers liked to buy a pair of nylon stockings in their pockets for their beloved women-nylon stockings became a popular love gift at that time, and some people even tried on this sweet love token in the street after receiving the gift. Since then, nylon has been used in a wider range of fields. People use it to make hot air balloons, nylon mosquito nets, underwear and so on.