yarn made from discarded materials – fishing nets, fabric scraps, carpets
Nylon was first synthesized in 1935 by American gunpowder and chemical manufacturer DuPont, after eight years of research on synthetic polymers that also resulted in the invention of neoprene, Lycra, flame-resistant Nomex, and faux leather Corfam, to name a few.
Three elements – coal, water, air – and four chemical reactions were needed to produce nylon. First, coal was turned into coal tar through the process of pyrolysis, or thermal destruction. Coal tar, a thick dark oil, was then processed to obtain adipic acid and hexamethylenediamine, two substances that mixed together with the addition of water caused the formation of nylon salt crystals. The nylon salt was then heated in a pressurized chamber so as to evaporate the molecules of water contained in its
