Kevlar and its properties

What is Kevlar ? Kevlar is a synthetic polymer whose structure and properties will be
examined in this project. The chemical name for Kevlar is poly-para-phenylene
terephthalamice. It is a registered trademark for a synthetic fiber produced by Du Pont, which
is a chemical company. Kevlar was developed in 1965 and being used commercially since
1970. There are numerous descriptions of Kevlar these include:
- It is a high strength material
- It is very light when compared to its strength
- It is 5 times stronger than steel of same weight
- It has very high tensile strength
Production of Kevlar
Kevlar is a polyamide, a type of synthetic polymer, in which the amide groups are
separated by para phenylene groups, meaning that the amide groups are attached to each
other on opposite sides of the phenyl group (i.e. carbons 1 and 4).

Polymer structure
The large phenyl groups separating the amides cause the polymer of Kevlar to nearly always
form the trans conformation, where the phenyl groups arrange themselves so that they are on
opposite sides of the rigid amide bond:

This is caused by the phenyl groups to be too large to fit on the same side of the bond, as
there would be great steric hindrance between the hydrogen atoms:

In the trans conformation there is

much more room, and so less
The hydrogens are
hindrance.
too close together in
the cis conformation
This situation where all the monomers connect in a trans conformation, means that very long
straight chains are formed, making an almost ideal fibre, and allowing it such a wide range of
uses.

References

http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/webprojects2002/edwards/history.htm
http://www.slideshare.net/zauwad/kevlar-42934354