M5 fiber
M5 Fiber is a high-performance
synthetic fiber produced by
Magellan Systems and
DuPont Advanced Fiber Systems. It was developed by Dr. Doetze Sikkema at
Akzo Nobel. The
U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center is considering it for the
Future Force Warrior program.
M5 is stronger and lighter than
kevlar and
Spectra, as well as most current armor materials in personal
armor systems. It has excellent flame and thermal protection. It can outperform high performance structural
composites, also because it can be glued very well, in contrast with for example dyneema. M5 is more fire resistant than
Nomex. In fact, it is the most fire resistant fiber yet developed. It's less brittle than
carbon fiber and won't snap when stretched and is resistant to
ultra-violet rays and acid.
Monomer powder is the raw material of the M5 polymer.
Polymers are long, molecular strings containing, in this case, as many as 200,000 repeating rings of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen atoms. Adding acids to the powder catalyzes a chemical reaction that aligns the monomers and fuses them through chemical bonds along the length of the molecular strings, this is known as a condensation polymerization. This bonding gives M5 some of its properties.
As the polymer solution cools to room temperature, it becomes a pliable, dark gray solid that resembles a lump of plastic. The lump is extruded into brightly blue, tiny, barely visible fibers. Later in the production process, the fibers are washed, spun into yarns, heated and put under controlled stress. The heat functions to evaporate (part of) the water that is locked in the structure, further enhancing its strenght. Tension affects the crystalline structure of the fiber, conferring some of its unique properties.
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Magellan Systems M5 page
