In the 2020 season, we decided to use a new fabric for our bags and released a separate superlight series from Dyneema.
Dyneema is a fiber made from high molecular weight polyethylene (HPPE marking), which is produced using the unique process of fiber synthesis “gel spinning”, or otherwise “gel spinning”.
Dyneema® is a registered trademark of UHMWPE fiber by DSM NV. There are different names (abbreviations) of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, UHMW PE), such as: High perfomance polyethylene, HPPE (high quality polyethylene), High modulus polyethylene, HMPE (high modulus polyethylene). In industry, UHMWPE began to be used in the second half of the 20th century; fiber production began in the 1970s. For about 10 years, scientists have been looking for methods for industrial production of Dyneema®, and as a result, the method of fiber synthesis “gel spinning” or “gel forming” has been developed. According to UHMWPE technology, it is dissolved in decalin and then squeezed into an aqueous solution, the resulting gel is drawn at a temperature of about 100 degrees, removing the solvent. During molding, the molecules consisting of long linear chains of polyethylene are twisted into fibers, while losing intermolecular bonds and acquiring an almost perfect parallel orientation of the molecules, which, along with the ultra-high molecular weight (more than 2 million), gives the fibers unique properties:
Dyneema fibers are several times superior in strength to all polyamide "PA" (nylon, nylon), polyester "PET" (polyester, lavsan, dacron) and polypropylene "PP" fibers, as well as aramid fibers (Kevlar, Tehnora, Twaron) by 30 -45%. Dyneema has a very low elongation (less than 1.5%).
Due to the above properties, materials from Dyneema are widely used in various fields:
This fabric is becoming more and more popular in the tourism industry due to its unique properties, which are presented above. Tents are already made from this fabric, backpacks, bicycle shoes, raincoats and other equipment are made. And since 2020, KasyBag bags for Bikepacking.
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