Justice Dept settles over faulty Zylon body armor

hosted. ^ | Jan 25

[JoeProBono]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Justice Department investigation into the use of defective Zylon fiber in bulletproof vests has led to a settlement with a Japanese importer. The body armor company now will cooperate in the probe of the faulty material's manufacturer, Toyobo Co. Ltd. of Japan.

The United States will collect $1.5 million from N.I Teijin Shoji Co. Ltd and an American subsidiary. The Justice Department says the two Teijin companies were aware that the Zylon fiber would degrade quickly, rendering bulletproof vests unfit for use.

[JoeProBono]

Zylon (IUPAC name: poly(p-phenylene-2,6-benzobisoxazole)) is a trademarked name for a range of thermoset liquid crystalline polyoxazole. This synthetic polymer material is manufactured by the Toyobo Corporation. Zylon was invented and developed by SRI International in the 1980s. Like Kevlar, Zylon is used in a number of applications that require very high strength with excellent thermal stability. Tennis racquets, table tennis blades, various medical applications, and some of the Martian rovers are some of the more well known instances.

[JoeProBono]

Director of NI Teijin Shoji Co. Ltd Hiroshi Nishikawa inaugurating the liaison office of the company in Dhaka.