Nylon for Everything

Du Pont is cooking up surprises in nylon. So far nylon has been used mainly as a fiber -- for stockings, toothbrushes, parachutes, aircraft tire cords, surgical sutures. But nylon is also a plastic of parts. Last week Du Pont reported some recent experiments with nylon as a solid plastic which would seem to indicate that after the war it may become almost as common and versatile an article as glass.

Nylon will have many plastic competitors. But it combines advantages of the two general types of plastics: as a thermoplastic it can be resoftened and reworked, but like thermosetting plastics, it is relatively resistant to heat. Its softening point is 450DEGF. (most thermoplastics melt at about 160DEGF.). Nylon is also exceedingly light and tough, easily machined, impervious to oil, grease and the action of most solvents.

Du Pont's preview of some nylon products:

> Outdoor furniture (it outwears rattan), cane seats for subways, trolleys and busses.

> Drapery, upholstery fabrics (simulating velvet, plush, mohair), shower curtains, slip covers, window screens.

> ''Lace" curtains that will not have to be dried on stretcher frames.

> Tennis and badminton racket strings, fishing lines.

> Zippers.

> Paint brushes (it lasts three times as long as pig bristles). Du Pont believes that nylon will be standard in tooth and hair brushes.

> Shoes, handbags, luggage.

> Insulating coating for electric wires.

> Bearings which need only water for lubrication.

> Tubing, for which nylon is extruded like macaroni.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.