Production
The Federal Trade Commission definition for sulfur fiber is "A manufactured fiber in which the fiber-forming substance is a long chain synthetic polysulfide in which at least 85% of the sulfide (āSā) linkages are attached directly to two (2) aromatic rings."
The PPS (polyphenylene sulfide) polymer is formed by reaction of sodium sulfide with p-dichlorobenzene:
- ClC6H4Cl + Na2S ā 1/n n + 2 NaCl
The process for commercially producing PPS (Ryton) was developed by Dr. H. Wayne Hill Jr. and Mr. James T. Edmonds at Phillips Petroleum Company. N-methylpyrrolidone is used as the reaction solvent since it is stable at the high temperatures required for the synthesis and it dissolves both the sulfiding agent and the oligomeric intermediates. The major challenge is controlling the degree of polymerization, which is in part controlled by managing the water content of the reaction mixture. The polymer is extruded by melt spinning to produce filament fibers.
The first U.S. Commercial Sulfur Fiber was produced in 1983 by Phillips Fibers Corporation, a subsidiary of Phillips 66 Company. Approximately 46M kg were produced in 1995 with a projected growth of 11% per year.
PPS is marketed by different brand names and companies. Examples of these are: Ryton PPS by Chevron Phillips as cross-linked type of polymer; Fortron by Ticona, as a linear polymer.
Read more about this topic: Poly(p-phenylene Sulfide)
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—Karl Marx (1818–1883)