Page 30 - Handbook of Properties of Textile and Technical Fibres

Introduction to the science of fibers 11

Table 1.3 Typical properties of some organic synthetic fibers

Strain
to Young’s
Diameter Specific Strength failure ε modulus
Fiber (mm) gravity s (GPa) (%) E (GPa)

Polyamide 66 20 1.2 1 20 < 5
(nylon 66)
Polyester (PET) 15 1.38 0.8 15 15
Nomex 15 1.38 0.64 22 17
(DuPont, 2017)
Technora 12 1.39 3 4.4 70
(Teijin, 2017)
Kevlar 49 12 1.45 3 4.5 135
(DuPont, 2017)
Zylon 12 1.56 5.8 2.5 270
(Toyobo, 2017)
Polyethylene (DSM 38 0.96 3 3.5 117
Dyneema, 2017)

animals; organic synthetic fibers, including regenerated cellulosic viscose rayon; and
glass, carbon and ceramic fibers.
For more information on these fibers the reader is referred to the appropriate
chapters.
There is not the space in Table 1.4 to include all the different types of carbon fibers
but they deserve a particular mention as they are intimately involved in the develop-
ment of some of the most advanced technical structures so far conceived. The
carbon-carbon bond is the strongest in nature and when the fibers are produced with
well-ordered structures the properties of the carbon fibers can be truly remarkable.
However, it is possible to manufacture carbon fibers with a wide range of properties.
Short carbon fibers are made as a reinforcement for cement from pitch and this amor-
phous carbon has a Young’s modulus about half that of glass (Kureha, 2017). In
contrast highly ordered pitch-based carbon fibers have moduli nearly at the limit of
what is physically possible (Mitsubishi Rayon, 2017). Nevertheless stiffness is not
the only property that is important so that strain to failure, which is reduced in very
stiff fibers, can also be of great importance. The most widely used carbon fibers there-
fore have strains to failure of over 2% with a Young’s modulus rather more than that of
steel and a density that is less than a quarter of that of steel. Some of the companies that
produce continuous carbon fibers are listed in the following references: Toray (2017),
Toho Tenax (2017), which is part of the Teijin group; Cytec-Solvay Group (2017),
Hexcel (2017), The SGL Group (2017), Mitsubishi Rayon (2017), and Nippon
Graphite Fiber Corporation (2017). Although continuous carbon fibers were first