Nylon was the first of man-made synthetic fibres, and is considered one of the most important chemical discoveries because of its hardness, resistance, elasticity and resistance to oils and fats.
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, DuPont chemists first created nylon by combining chemicals extracted from coal, water, air, oil, natural gas and agricultural by-products.
The thousands of nylon products on the market today start out as the same at first. Factories combine the chemicals that produce nylon, first heating them to remove the water. The small molecules of each chemical are combined when heated to form larger molecules in a process called polymerization.
The nylon coming out of the heat machine is a flat ribbon. When this tape cools, it hardens. It is then cut into pieces, which are then sent to factories where they are melted and used to make thousands of different products, including parachutes, socks, tires, carpets, gears, machine parts, bearings, furniture, and hair brushes.
Nylon threads used in fabrics, fishing lines, and surgical threads are made when molten nylon passes through the tiny holes in a machine. These threads harden when they touch the air.
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