Tough & strong polyamides.

U.S. Patent 9,056,982 (June 16, 2015), 'Thermoplastic Composition for Use in High Impact Applications," Rajeev S. Bhatia (Invista North America S.A.R.L., Wilmington, Delaware, USA).

Nylon polymers are desirable in many applications due to their outstanding elasticity, dye-fastness, and high melting point. Often these resins are reinforced with impact modifiers and reinforcements. However, improving the impact strength of a resin composition with commercially available modifiers generally results in a proportional decrease in tensile strength. There's a need for compositions with increased impact strengths without reduced tensile strengths.

Bhatia developed a thermoplastic nylon consisting of 50-99 wt% nylon-66 resin, 1-50 wt% impact modifier, and 0.01-25 wt% ultrahigh molecular weight silicone. The silicone additive improves toughness while keeping an ultimate tensile strength that's at least 80% of the material without the silicone. The silicone is immobile in the continuous phase of the polyamide.