Nomex Fabrics:

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.

Properties

Nomex and related aramid polymers are related to nylon, but have aromatic backbones, and hence are more rigid and more durable. Nomex is the premier example of a meta variant of the aramids (Kevlar is a para aramid). Unlike Kevlar, Nomex cannot align during filament formation and has poorer strength. It has excellent thermal, chemical, and radiation resistance.

Production

The polymer is produced by condensation reaction from the monomers m-phenylenediamine and isophthaloyl chloride.

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. Nomex fiber is made in the USA and in Spain (Asturias).

Wilfred Sweeny, the DuPont scientist responsible for discoveries leading to Nomex, earned a DuPont Lavoisier Medal partly for this work in 2002.

Applications

The paper is used in electrical laminates such as circuit boards and transformer cores as well as fireproof honeycomb structures where it is 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 withstand intense heat.

A Nomex hood is a common piece of racing and 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 wear driving suits constructed of Nomex and or other fire retardant materials, along with Nomex gloves, long underwear, balaclavas, socks, and shoes to protect them in the event of a fire. The FIA and the SFI Foundation provide specifications for flame-resistant drivers clothing to be used in racing. The standards range from single layer suits that provide some protection against flash fires to much thicker multi layer SFI-15 suits required by the National Hot Rod Association that can protect a driver for up to 30 seconds against the intense heat generated by the nitromethane fuel they use.

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 Mars Exploration Rover missions, the Galileo atmospheric probe, the Cassini-Huygens Titan probe, as an external covering on the AERCam Sprint, and will be incorporated into the new Crew Exploration Vehicle that will replace the Shuttle after 2010.

Nomex has also been used for its acoustic qualities, the first time being used in Troy, NY, at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC's) main concert hall. Nomex reflects high-frequency sound, and increases mid- and low-level frequency sound. According to RPI President Shirley Ann Jackson, EMPAC is the first venue in the world to use Nomex for acoustic reasons. It is also used (like Kevlar) in the production of loudspeaker drivers.

Honeycomb-structured Nomex paper is also used as a spacer between layers of lead in the ATLAS Liquid Argon Calorimeter.