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Ballistic nylon is a thick, tough, nylon fabric with several uses. Ballistic nylon was developed by the DuPont corporation as a material for flak jackets to be worn by World War II airmen. The term ballistic nylon originates in the fabric's intended function, protecting its wearers from flying debris and fragmentation caused by bullet and artillery-shell impacts.
The original specification for ballistic nylon was an 18 oz (510 g) (ounce) nylon fabric made from 1050 denier high tenacity nylon yarn in a 2×2 basketweave. Today the term is often used to refer to any nylon fabric that is made with a "ballistic weave", typically a 2×2 or 2×3 basketweave. It can be woven from nylon yarns of various denier such as 840 denier and 1680 denier.
Ballistic nylon was originally developed by the Dupont corporation for flak jackets for World War II airmen. The name of this nylon speaks to its origin; its intent was to protect the airmen from flying debris and fragmentation caused by bullet and artillery-shell impacts. The nylon type was not effective against most pistol and rifle bullets, let alone the heavy 20 mm and 30 mm autocannons Axis powers were often armed with. Thus ballistic nylon was replaced by Kevlar and other more bullet-resistant fabrics.
Although ballistic nylon was originally created and used in flak jackets, its durability and cutting resistance have made it useful for non-combat applications. It can be found in backpacks, luggage, belts and straps, motorcycle jackets, watch bands, and knife sheaths. It can also be used for structural purposes, such as on skin-on-frame kayaks.
Ballistic nylon is used in chainsaw protective chaps covering the fronts of the chainsaw operator's legs. Such chaps are usually made with an outer layer of a tough smooth fabric like nylon or other synthetic fiber, with four plies of ballistic nylon inside. When the moving chainsaw chain contacts the chaps and tears the external layer, the inner plies shred. The strength of the ballistic nylon fiber will generally stop the moving chain quickly by causing the drive clutch to slip. As a result, the operator is relatively or completely uninjured by the chain.
Due to its difficulty in dyeing, most products that use ballistic nylon will be found in black or other dark colors.
Kevlar (para-aramid) is a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, the high-strength material was first used commercially in the early 1970s as a replacement for steel in racing tires. It is typically spun into ropes or fabric sheets that can be used as such, or as an ingredient in composite material components.
Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, used in sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, ropemaking, and the production of textiles. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manufactured sewing threads may be finished with wax or other lubricants to withstand the stresses involved in sewing. Embroidery threads are yarns specifically designed for needlework. Yarn can be made of a number of natural or synthetic materials, and comes in a variety of colors and thicknesses. Although yarn may be dyed different colours, most yarns are solid coloured with a uniform hue. Yarn can be used to make clothing and many other kinds of artworks using a wide variety of techniques and materials.
A fire hose is a high-pressure hose that carries water or other fire retardant to a fire to extinguish it. Outdoors, it attaches either to a fire engine, fire hydrant, or a portable fire pump. Indoors, it can permanently attach to a building's standpipe or plumbing system.
A bulletproof vest, also known as a ballistic vest or a bullet-resistant vest, is an item of body armour that helps absorb the impact and reduce or stop penetration to the torso by firearm-fired projectiles and fragmentation from explosions. The vest may come in a soft form, as worn by many police officers, prison officers, security guards, and some private citizens, used to protect against stabbing attacks or light projectiles, or hard form, using metallic or para-aramid components. Soldiers and police tactical units wear hard armour, either in conjunction with soft armour or alone, to protect against rifle ammunition or fragmentation.
Stockings are close-fitting, variously elastic garments covering the leg from the foot up to the knee or possibly part or all of the thigh. Stockings vary in color, design, and transparency. Today, stockings are primarily worn for fashion and aesthetics, usually in association with mid-length or short skirts.
Microfiber is synthetic fiber finer than one denier or decitex/thread, having a diameter of less than ten micrometers.
Personnel Armor System for Ground Troops is a combat helmet and ballistic vest that was used by the United States military from the early 1980s until the mid-2000s, when the helmet and vest were succeeded by the Lightweight Helmet (LWH), Modular Integrated Communications Helmet (MICH), and Interceptor Body Armor (IBA) respectively.
A flak jacket or flak vest is a form of body armor. A flak jacket is designed to provide protection from case fragments ("frag") from high explosive weaponry, such as anti-aircraft artillery, grenade fragments, some types of pellets used in shotguns, and other lower-velocity projectiles. It is not designed to protect against bullets fired from most small arms such as rifles or handguns. However flak jackets are able to sustain certain gunshots, depending on the angle at which the shot was fired, the caliber of the bullet, the speed of the projectile and the range from which the shot was fired.
Body armor, personal armor, armored suit (armoured) or coat of armor, among others, is protective clothing designed to absorb or deflect physical attacks. Historically used to protect military personnel, today it is also used by various types of police, private security guards, or bodyguards, and occasionally ordinary citizens. Today there are two main types: regular non-plated body armor for moderate to substantial protection, and hard-plate reinforced body armor for maximum protection, such as used by combatants.
Metallic fibers are manufactured fibers composed of metal, metallic alloys, plastic-coated metal, metal-coated plastic, or a core completely covered by metal.
Safety practices generally recommend that chainsaw users wear protective clothing, also known as personal protective equipment or PPE, while operating chainsaws. There is general agreement worldwide on what clothing is suitable, but local jurisdictions have specific rules and recommendations.
Ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene is a subset of the thermoplastic polyethylene. Also known as high-modulus polyethylene (HMPE), it has extremely long chains, with a molecular mass usually between 3.5 and 7.5 million amu. The longer chain serves to transfer load more effectively to the polymer backbone by strengthening intermolecular interactions. This results in a very tough material, with the highest impact strength of any thermoplastic presently made.
Chenille is a type of yarn, or the fabric made from it. Chenille is the French word for caterpillar whose fur the yarn is supposed to resemble.
Cordura is a collection of synthetic fiber-based fabric technologies used in a wide array of products including luggage, backpacks, trousers, military wear and performance apparel.
Warp knitting is defined as a loop-forming process in which the yarn is fed into the knitting zone, parallel to the fabric selvage. It forms vertical loops in one course and then moves diagonally to knit the next course. Thus the yarns zigzag from side to side along the length of the fabric. Each stitch in a course is made by many different yarns. Each stitch in one wale is made by several different yarns.
The manufacture of textiles is one of the oldest of human technologies. To make textiles, the first requirement is a source of fiber from which a yarn can be made, primarily by spinning. The yarn is processed by knitting or weaving, which turns yarn into cloth. The machine used for weaving is the loom. For decoration, the process of colouring yarn or the finished material is dyeing. For more information of the various steps, see textile manufacturing.
Textile fibers, threads, yarns and fabrics are measured in a multiplicity of units.
A conductive textile is a fabric which can conduct electricity. Conductive textiles can be made with metal strands woven into the construction of the textile or by conductive yarns which are conductive thanks to a metal-coating. Some historic fabrics use yarns of solid metals, most commonly gold. Alternatively, novel materials such as nanomaterials or conducting polymers may also be used as the conducting materials. There is also an interest in semiconducting textiles, made by impregnating normal textiles with carbon- or metal-based powders.
Lester D. Shubin was a researcher who developed Kevlar for the use in ballistic vests. Kevlar's use in ballistic vests was later expanded for use in all types of personal armor.
A thread is a long strand of material, often composed of several filaments or fibres, used for joining, creating or decorating textiles. In early humanity Egyptians were known for creating thread using plant fibers, wool and hair. Today, thread can also be made of many different materials including but not limited to cotton, wool, linen, nylon, silk, polyester etc. There are also metal threads, which can be made of fine wire.
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