[kazinator]

Nylon fishing line is stronger than steel and light as plastic.

[ARandomerDude]

...in tension.

[robonerd]

Surely that's the joke. There must be two or three of these "scientists make material stronger and lighter than steel" headlines every year for decades (probably for as long as steel has existed, lmao.) The headline never specifies what they actually mean by "stronger than steel", but the naive reader would walk away with the impression that steel is now an obsolete material, which never pans out.

[mrandish]

Perhaps these materials scientists are in a friendly competition with the scientists behind all the "Scientists invent revolutionary new battery technology" headlines.

[Dlanv]

And is nylon able to form rigid 3 dimensional structures?

[robonerd]

For some values of 'rigid', yes. Here's a bicycle made out of nylon:

https://www.bikeradar.com/news/airbike-nylon-bicycle-first-l...

> Two British engineers have designed a bike, christened the Airbike, made entirely of nylon – and they claim it’s as strong as steel.

[kazinator]

The answer is obviously yes.

(Did you actually mean to ask "can nylon form rigid 3D structures that can be substituted for a girder in a skyscraper or bridge?")

[OJFord]

Yes, you probably have a bunch at home in various knick-knacks. Plastic gears are usually nylon, for example.

[kazinator]

The better ones are delrin (a.k.a acteal). It has a low coefficient of friction.

[OJFord]

Interesting, thanks, I probably can't tell the difference and have just assumed they're all nylon to be honest!

[sudosysgen]

Delrin gears are not uniformly better. They have a lower coefficient of friction, but they can handle less torque. It's a tradeoff.

[devenson]

false