Is 1050D ballistic nylon the strongest?

[somebody]

I love my Maxpedition bags and for a long time I thought of them as the strongest there is.

Is there any other material stronger than 1050D ballistic nylon?

I'm asking because I want to have the strongest bag. I'm wondering if 1050D is the strongest?


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[nathant4]

@somebody - You may have to be more specific as it is difficult to accurately compare the strengths of different materials, especially fabrics. Since the fabric's denier (represented by the "d") is a measure of weight (not strength), other characteristics such as the weave and manufacturing process of the fabric are extremely important.

In general, it's widely accepted that 1050d ballistic nylon is the 'strongest' for its denier weight level. There are a number of composite fabrics (typically reinforced with materials similar to carbon fiber) that have been developed for very extreme rip-resistance applications, but unlikely that they will find their way into the luggage/EDC markets anytime soon.

In short, you're unlikely to find something 'stronger' than 1050d ballistic nylon and even more unlikely to find it in as many colors as TB offers.

[somebody]

@somebody - You may have to be more specific as it is difficult to accurately compare the strengths of different materials, especially fabrics. Since the fabric's denier (represented by the "d") is a measure of weight (not strength), other characteristics such as the weave and manufacturing process of the fabric are extremely important.

In general, it's widely accepted that 1050d ballistic nylon is the 'strongest' for its denier weight level. There are a number of composite fabrics (typically reinforced with materials similar to carbon fiber) that have been developed for very extreme rip-resistance applications, but unlikely that they will find their way into the luggage/EDC markets anytime soon.

In short, you're unlikely to find something 'stronger' than 1050d ballistic nylon and even more unlikely to find it in as many colors as TB offers.

Oh ok thanks, so i guess I'm all good.

what does TB stand for?


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[Muni_Jedi]

Oh ok thanks, so i guess I'm all good.

what does TB stand for?


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TB = Tom Bihn

Also, as with most things that are made by man not all 1050D Ballistic nylon is equal. The base material and manufacturing process all play into the quality and long term durability. Add to that, the fact, that even the best manufacturer has hiccups in their process, thus the selection of material to use in producing the bags is important to the quality of the final product as well.

[tpnl]

TB stands for Tom Bihn

FYI - There are also differences in 1050d ballistic nylon. Tom BIhn (TB) uses a High Tenacity (HT) version that resists heat better (e.g. when your drag you bag along the ground, the friction will generate heat accelerating the wear and tear).

Also note that 1000D Cordura actually has slightly stronger abrasion resistance than 1050d ballistic nylon but 1050d ballistic nylon has stronger tear resistance. So strength can be relative depending what type of strength you are looking for. Note that the differences do not impact much under normal conditions.
Note also that the White Fibers in Dyneema (the white stuff is really what truly is Dyneema from my understanding) are the strongest material of all we have talked about. It is the other stuff around it that is not as strong!

See the following posts for other references:

https://vimeo.com/78202693
https://vimeo.com/103198631


Introducing our custom 1050d ballistic nylon in Navy - FIELD TRIPS by TOM BIHNFIELD TRIPS by TOM BIHN
The Difference Between Ballistic, 1000D Cordura, and Ripstop Nylon -
Introducing 400d Dyneema®/nylon - FIELD TRIPS by TOM BIHNFIELD TRIPS by TOM BIHN

Hope this helps

Cheers!

[moriond]

Oh ok thanks, so i guess I'm all good.

what does TB stand for?

Wekcome to the forums @somebody,

"TB" in the post by @nathant4 refers to "Tom Bihn" -- the manufacturer of the products we discuss here, and the host of these forums.

Here's some more background information relevant to his answer and your question about 1050d Ballistic Nylon. I'll excerpt some sections from an old thread from 2007, What's the difference between Cordura and Ballistic Nylon?

@thax wrote:

Found this post at (the scuba board archives, surprisingly hard to find hard info on this stuff =)
* What is Ballistic Nylon?

Originally developed for use in bulletproof vests, genuine American-made 1050 denier nylon is one of the toughest fabrics in the world. While some luggage manufacturers have tried to imitate this fabric, the american-made Allied Signal Fibers Tru-Ballistic 1050 denier fabric meets U.S. Military Specification #MIL-C-12369F-GL. Always know what you are buying!

* What is the Definition of "Denier" in Ballistic Nylon?

"Denier" refers to the weight, NOT the strength of an individual fiber that goes into making a fabric. Therefor, a higher denier count does not indicate a stronger fabric, it just means a heavier fabric. Strength and abrasion resistance are achieved through molecular manipulation, or how a fabric is stretched, spun, or woven. These characteristics are measured through tenacity (strength per denier), breaking strength (tenacity x denier) and toughness. Laboratory tests prove that the Tru-Ballistic 1050 denier fabric is the strongest and most durable fabric for its denier weight level.

Tom Bihn chimed in:

So far so good.
There are two significant technical differences between cordura and ballistic nylon. First, ballistic is a "filament" yard, vs cordura which is texturized. This means ballistic nylon yarns are smooth & slick; cordura yarns are slightly fuzzy, actually discontinuous, more like a natural fiber. This gives cordura somewhat higher abrasion resistance, while the ballistic has higher tear strength. However, in both fabrics the tear strength and the abrasion resistance are so much higher than necessary, the end-user will seldom if ever experience any difference between cordura and ballistic. The other technical difference is that ballistic is two-ply weave, which means two 1050 denier yarns are woven as one. This mostly impacts the look of the fabric, not so much it's utility, but it pretty much is what people like about ballistic nylon.
Some other differences: ballistic is harder to dye, hence many manufacturers use only black (we reject a lot of ballistic nylon because of bad color, streaks, etc.); because cordura has more texture than ballistic, it frays less at the cut edge. With modern coatings on the backsides of the fabrics, this is typically not a problem these days, but it used to be. We finish 100% of any exposed internal seams on all of our bags, ballistic or cordura, so don't sweat that on with a TOM BIHN bag.
Aesthetically, cordura has a more natural, cotton-canvas sort of feel; ballistic has decidedly synthetic feel and look, more techy for sure.
Also important to note here is that many of our competitors have switched to 1680 ballistic nylon. The 1680 is woven (as I understand it) from a really big 1680 denier single yarn, rather than two plies of 1050; this large yarn size makes if look like a two-ply fabric. The 1680 is made in asia and is about half the cost of 1050 ballistic, and though it may look very similar when brand new, it ages rather poorly, tending to fuzz out at any wear points. I've seen messenger bags made from 1680 ballistic that look pretty bad after only a few months of use.

Here's some more background about the range of Ballistic Nylon colors that @nathant4 was talking about. Basically, when manufacturing moved overseas, color availability in Ballistic Nylon became very restrictive, due to the difficult dyeability of this material. Darcy explained this in an August 29, 2008 forum post:

Purple fans....sorry, but there probably won't ever be Grape Tom Bihn bags again. We long ago ran out of the Grape 1050 denier ballistic nylon used to make bags like the Aeronaut. It used to be that you could get stock 1050 denier U.S. made ballistic nylon in a small array of colors, including Grape and Hunter. After most manufacturing moved overseas, it didn't make sense for fabric companies to stock those fabrics anymore. We now order huge custom dye lots of the 1050d U.S. ballistic nylon. For now, three colors (Black, Steel, Crimson) are the only colors we'll offer. Maybe -- maybe! -- next year you'll see a Blue.

Now all new ballistic nylon colors have to be custom developed and then ordered in large production batches specifically for Tom Bihn, which is one of the reasons that balancing color availability with production of bags gets so tricky, especially when there are unexpectedly large surges in demand. They test and develop all the new Ballistic Nylon colors that have come in for their bags.

I know that Maxpedition has descriptions about Ballistic Nylon properties on their product pages, and options in tactical colors for their bags.

HTH

moriond

[Frank II]

I know most of the bags on the market and don't know of any made of tougher material than 1050d BN. If you need anything tougher than 1050d BN you must be going into combat or plan to be trampled by elephants.

By the way, for your information (yes, I actually write these words out), ballistic nylon is a generic term for a type of material. Cordura is a brand name for a myriad of fabrics. Originally developed by duPont, the company that now makes Cordura is currently owned by the same people who make Brawny towels, Dixie cups and Stainmaster Carpets--Koch Industries-- a private company owned by the Koch Brothers.

[somebody]

Is 1050D ballistic nylon the strongest?

Nvm


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