Introduction
The chemistry of spandex wasn’t something that had always intrigued me; that is, not until
the day I started wearing leggings on a nearly daily basis and realized it was a main
component. When you hear spandex, your first thought might be the Under Armour you’re wearing under your football jersey, or the shorts volleyball players run around in. But it’s a lot more prominent in our world than you’d expect, and I chose to investigate how and why it became such a prevalent part of our culture.
Composition of ...
Main Chemicals, Compounds, Components
Polyurethane
Chemistry's Role
Every factor of spandex is engineered in a lab. The complex components of it took years to pull together into the ideal flexible material you see today! The combination of a flexible macroglycol and a stiff diisocyanate create a structured.
Background Research
The name spandex is actually an anagram of “expands”, coined by Joseph Shivers in
1958. It’s found in nearly 80% of clothes sold in the United States today, but was first
introduced as an alternative for swimwear and athletic wear. It has an elasticity of about 500% its original size, and is almost always mixed with cotton or polyester, so as to avoid it being too tight.
The majority of spandex is made via a method called dry spinning, though other methods can be used. It begins as a liquid, with a lot of work done to ensure chain extension, before being funneled through a very tiny hole and heated to turn it into a thin set of strands, which are even further combined to create the individual fibers you would see used in a clothing factory. It’s then treated with magnesium stearate or other polymers to avoid it sticking together, and shipped off to other factories where it’s further dyed, treated, or altered to be put in your everyday clothing.
Resources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spandex
History, major products, methods of production
http://www.fibersource.com/f-tutor/spandex.htm
FTC definition, uses, characteristics, care
https://pubs.acs.org/cen/whatstuff/stuff/7707scitek4.html
History, chemical makeup
http://www.madehow.com/Volume-4/Spandex.html
History, uses, material, chemical makeup, methods of production,
http://textilelearner.blogspot.com/2011/06/spandex-physical-and-chemical_774.html
Physical properties, chemical properties
http://www.docbrown.info/page03/sms04.htm
Molecular structure