My Take: Remembering Kevlar and Nomex

 Kevlar, discovered by celebrated DuPont scientist Stephanie Kwolek during research into alternatives for steel belts in tires, is credited with saving the lives of thousands of police and soldiers.

 Nomex, invented by Scotland-native Wilfred Sweeney, had a similar impact to Kevlar in protecting firefighters, oilfield workers, and others from flames and high temperatures. Other uses followed in areas such as insulation in higher-temperature environments.

 Neither Kevlar nor Nomex emerged as a blockbuster product for DuPont.

Both aramid products are expensive to produce. DuPont was unable to reduce those costs substantially, and it wasn't long after the discovery of Kevlar that a European company developed a competing product through a separate research and development effort.

More recently, growth in Kevlar demand slowed, with DuPont shutting down a line in Charleston, SC, several years after spending half a billion dollars to expand production of the fiber. Still, the company disclosed that it had 50 scientists working on Kevlar breakthroughs, as production was consolidated at a plant in Virginia.

The closing also came as DuPont was working on a complex deal that ultimately led to a brief merger with Dow. The result was a slimmer Dow and DuPont, with the two companies spinning off their agriscience operations into an entity known as Corteva.

DuPont, under CEO Edward Breen, began shedding businesses, a strategy he employed at Tyco, a far more troubled  company that no longer exists.

It was inevitable that Kevlar and Nomex would end up on the selling block as the company focused  on  product lines and seeking higher growth areas.

While the aramid business did not meet financial expectations, DuPont was able to sell it to a smaller, privately held chemical company backed by private equity for $1.8 billion.

As analysts noted, the business is solidly profitable. The sale  allows  DuPont to send more cash to shareholders, who have not been overly impressed with its stock performance.

 The sale  marks the end of another chapter in the history of a company whose slogan, "Better Living Through Chemistry," was in use from the 1930s to the early 1980s. That phrase more than sums  up the positive contributions from Kevlar and Nomex. - Doug Rainey, chief content officer