Kevlar, or poly para-phenylene terephthalamide, is the product of a long search by the Du Pont Company for a high strength fiber. Several problems were encountered in its development. Because of the strength of the molecular bonds, the polymer would have a high melting temperature. Therefore it would have to be able to dissolve in solvents before forming into fibers.

In 1964, American researcher Stephanie Louise Kwolek began experimenting with poly-p-phenylene-terephthalate and polybenzamide. Kwolek was the first person to prepare pure monomers that could be used to synthesize polybenzamide. The intermediates required in this process proved highly sensitive to moisture and heat, and therefore also sensitive to hydrolysis and self-polymerization. Kwolek found a suitable solvent and low-temperature polymerization conditions, and succeeded in producing a fluid, cloudy liquid crystalline solution of synthetic aromatic polyamides. In 1976, Kwolek discovered the technology for spinning such solutions into fibers. The spun fibers proved to...