Everything about Nomex totally explained
Nomex (styled
NOMEX) is a registered
trademark for flame resistant meta-
aramid material developed in the early
1960s by
DuPont and first marketed in
1967.
(External Link
)
It can be considered an
aromatic nylon, the
meta variant of the
para-
aramid Kevlar. It is sold in both fiber and sheet forms and is used as a fabric wherever resistance from heat and flame is required. Nomex sheet is actually a
calendered paper and made in a similar fashion. Nomex Type 410 paper is the original and one of the larger grade types made, mostly for electrical insulation purposes. The
Spruance plant, in
Richmond, VA, is the sole North American paper production site. The paper is used in electrical laminates such as circuit boards and transformer cores as well as fireproof honeycomb structures where it's saturated with a phenolic resin. Honeycomb structures such as these, as well as
mylar-Nomex laminates are used extensively in aircraft construction. Both the firefighting and vehicle racing industries use Nomex to create clothing and equipment that can stand up to intense heat. All aramids are heat and flame resistant but Kevlar, having a
para orientation, can be molecularly aligned and gives high strength.
Meta aramid can't align during filament formation and has poor strength. Nomex fiber is made in the USA and in Spain (Asturias).
A Nomex hood is a common piece of
firefighting equipment. It is placed on the
head on top of a
firefighter's
face mask. The hood protects the portions of the head not covered by the
helmet and face mask from the intense
heat of the
fire.
Race car drivers have to wear a multi-layer Nomex driving suit & flame-resistant gloves, long underwear,
balaclava, socks and shoes to protect them in the event that a
fire engulfs their
car. The
FIA provides specifications for the
FIA Standard 8856-2000(External Link) flame-resistant clothing to be used in racing.
Military pilots and aircrew wear flight suits made of over 92 percent Nomex to protect them from the possibility of
cockpit fires and other mishaps. Recently, troops riding in ground vehicles have also begun wearing nomex. The remaining material is typically Kevlar thread used to hold the fabric together at the seams.
In the U.S. space program, Nomex has been used for the
Thermal Micrometeoroid Garment on the
Extravehicular Mobility Unit (in conjunction with
Kevlar and
Gore-Tex) and
ACES pressure suit, both for fire and extreme environment (water immersion to near vacuum) protection, and as thermal blankets on the payload bay doors, fuselage, and upper wing surfaces of the
Space Shuttle Orbiter. It has also been used for the airbags for the
Mars Pathfinder and
MER rovers, the
Galileo atmospheric probe, the
Cassini-Huygens Titan probe, and will be incorporated into the new
Crew Exploration Vehicle that will replace the Shuttle after 2010.
The DuPont scientist responsible for discoveries leading to the creation of Nomex,
Dr. Wilfred Sweeny, earned a DuPont
Lavoisier Medal (External Link) partly for this work in
2002.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Nomex'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://nomex.totallyexplained.com">Nomex Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
