Kevlar vs. Nomex gloves?

Blackhawk has a series of gloves ( http://www.blackhawk.com/product_detail.asp?product_id=5109&d= ) which it makes in both Kevlar and Nomex. In all other respects, they look identical, and they both cost the same. I'm thinking about getting a pair for the daily commute to work by train and subway, and for driving.

I now have a pair of Nomex flight gloves, which have experienced considerable pilling of the Nomex fabric. Any suggestions?

Kind of depends on what you want the gloves to do. Kevlar wears better and is designed to resist penetration/cutting. Nomex's strong point is heat deflection, like the fire suits race car drivers wear and the hoods you see on firemen. For everyday use, Kevlar is the better choice.

Kevlar resists heat as well. Not quite as good as Nomex, but well enough. That's why body armour is like wearing an oven.

While I haven't looked at the specific gloves you are looking for, pay careful attention to the protection coverage of the gloves in question and compare that to your objectives. Most of these "Police" gloves have less protection than you might think.

-john

What are you looking at them for? Nomex 3+ times better with heat, carbon is better but more money. In term of pilling, did you wash them, or put them in a drier?

Nomex is designed to repel heat. Kevlar, on the other hand, repels penetration due to the type of fiber, twist of the thread, and tightness of the weave which contrbutes to heat retentention and reflection. Body armor also contains strategically placed armor plate that doesn't breathe at all.

Don't confuse heat with flame. Nomex doesn't repel heat, it protects against flame. You need to wear something under the nomex to protect against heat.

In reply to Adrenjunky, I want them for general purpose travel to and from work, on a train and subway, and for driving. I'm thinking about trafic accidents, and also possible service interruptions or accidents on the rails, in which I would have to exit the train and track area in an unconventional manner. Both the train ride and subway are partially in underground tunnels.

Seems like Kevlar gloves would be more versatile. You get heat resistance, plus abrasion/cut resistance in case you need to manhandle mangled sheet metal or broken glass to escape from a derailed subway or subway collision. Well, any gloves would be better than bare hands, so we're talking relative benefits here.

Someone mentioned that Nomex is flame but not heat resistant. Can anyone confirm that? I always thought that Nomex offers both qualities.

And I don't know if all Nomex grades offers this, but I've seen Nomex stuff advertised as anti-static, too. Handy for those commutes after a really frustrating day at work when you just want to jump down off the subway platform and grab a hold of that third rail nice and tight. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> (Yes, I realize, that's not what's meant by "anti-static")

What is NOMEX?

I didn't know that DuPont made both Kevlar and NOMEX.

"Don't confuse heat with flame. Nomex doesn't repel heat, it protects against flame. You need to wear something under the nomex to protect against heat. "

That doesn't mean nomex isn't heat resistant, only that the material is designed to be "Inherently flame-resistant, NOMEX® won't melt, drip, burn or support combustion in the air." It is heat resistant in that it's stable at high temps. http://www.dupont.com/nomex/

OTOH, if you are wearing a flight suit and aviator gloves, intense heat can burn you through the nomex even though the nomex doesn't burn. I always wore cotton (levi jeans and a cotton turtle neck) under my flightsuit. The old cotton thermal u/w formed a good thermal barrier under nomex.

I would go with Kevlar, or something like it. for years now I have had a couple pair of SECO Gear extrication gloves, one set on bunker gear and the other in the trunk of the car. We ordered them from Galls or Chief Supply. Just watch the sizeing on them, I have smaller hands and I have to have the extra large size

First, let's just say I know a few things about armour. Military armour has plates in it in most cases. Most police uniform and plainclothes/consumer armour has a pocket for plates, but it is usually soft armour. And if you think that every piece of soft armour has plates in it, you obviously have not handled very much of the stuff. Emphasis on the words SOFT, ie squishy, ie flexible, ie no plate. Plates turn you into the Tinman, and are a completely different thing than talking about kevlar, spectra, or any other aramid unless you laminate it, which you wouldn't do with gloves.

Kevlar was designed to be strong, you're right. But it also happens to have very nice insulative values (even when used in a single layer; just keep in mind how thick that layer is, even if it is between wool and silk as an insulation), and is highly resistant to ignition. It is exactly what it was designed to be- synthetic silk, it's just that it has a lousy texture so it hasn't made the grand leap to being a fashion fabric.

When you read (if you do) scifi from the 50s and 60s, and they are talking about "spider armour" or something simliar, they were predicting Kevlar.

As was pointed out, Nomex's sole value is that has an extremely high tempurature resistance, but doesn't work worth squat to keep you warm. That tempurature resistance has to do with the fact that it's ignition point is very, very high (if your nomex is burning, you're burning). It has a greatly inferior insulation value and resistance to both cutting and abrasion compaired to kevlar. It has zilch in the way of reflective value without doing something like metalizing it. (Were you thinking of asbestos?)

They use nomex or nomex/kevlar blend on the outside of bunker coats becuase it doesn't want to burn, and then there is insulation between you and the nomex so you don't burn. Flight suits are made out of uninsulated nomex mainly to protect from flash burns; they don't plan on you being in the fire with one.

Don't like my answer? Try the dupont website.

Old fashioned leather work gloves might not be as high speed studly, but they are a lot cheaper and for what you are describing will work just as well.

That's why you see Kevlar/Nomex blends without a thousand patent lawyers sharpening thier teeth. And why you never see Spectra/Nomex blends (that, and the melt point on Spectra is a lot lower than Kevlar's, it would kinda defeat the purpose) - Spectra is a Honeywell concoction.

Re: Nomex flightsuits and flash burns
The value of Nomex is that it is resistant to melting and burning. A thin flight suit doesn't have insulating properties any better than any fabric of similar thickness.

People have been severely burned when a flash fire fused the low melting point synthetic clothing they were wearing under their "fireproof" Nomex. "It's what's inside that counts (also)."

FWIW, I previously posted some links to some fire resistaint clothing.

-john

My, aren't we touchy.

Here's what I chose, I think you can see why.

tactical gloves link

This from the company that I bought my SL-1 sungear from last year in Baghdad.

See what ya think.

Oh, no arguement there.

I find that when people don't do thier homework, sometimes the best way for the student to learn is to be bounced off the blackboard a few times. So long as it doesn't become a habit, it helps not only them, but the sleeping club in the back row.