Kevlar was invented by Stephanie Kwolek, a chemist working at DuPont in 1965. It was originally developed as a replacement for the steel mesh in car tires. But it has become more widely known as a bulletproof fiber since the first bulletproof vest was developed in 1976. Kevlar's status as a bulletproof fiber is now being challenged by a new fiber developed by Jin Zhang, a scientist at Peking University.
This new bulletproof fiber has twice the energy absorption capacity and a 10 GPa higher dynamic strength than Kevlar. It is developed by combining aramid chains with carbon nanotubes woven at right angles. Despite its durability, the resulting fiber is still light and thinner than a human hair.
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