M5 fiber
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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. 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 as many as 200,000 repeating hexagonal rings of carbon, oxygen 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 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 tiny, barely visible fibers. Later in the production process, the fibers are washed, spun into yarns and put under controlled stress. Tension affects the crystalline structure of the fiber, conferring some of its unique properties.
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