PIA-C-44378 Series
At present, most of the gold standards for military parachutes in the world come from the PIA standard by the Parachute Industry Association. The predecessor data of this standard originated from the fabric specifications formulated by MIL-C when parachutes were created in the world.
So, what is the PIA-C-44378 fabric and what is specifications for it?
44378 is a fabric commonly used for military manned parachutes, and most of the colors are army green. Moreover, under this document, 44378 contains five fabrics with different air permeability levels. They are all made from the same yarn (30D high tenacity nylon 66) through various different yarn treatments , twisted and weaving designs to achieve different air permeability.
- PIA-C-44378 T I – 1.2 oz /sq.yd (0.5 – 5 CFM air permeability ) – Ripstop Weave
- PIA-C-44378 T II – 1.12 oz /sq.yd (30 – 50 CFM air permeability ) – Ripstop Weave
- PIA-C-44378 T III – 1.17 oz /sq.yd (30 – 50 CFM air permeability ) – Ripstop Weave
- PIA-C-44378 T IV – 1.2 oz /sq.yd (0.5 – 3 CFM air permeability ) – Ripstop Weave
- PIA-C-44378 T V – 1.17 oz /sq.yd (0.5 – 5 CFM air permeability ) – Ripstop Weave
- PIA-C-44378 T VI – 1.5 oz /sq.yd (0.5 – 3 CFM air permeability ) – Ripstop Weave
In the document, there is no requirement for the fabric to use nylon 66 yarn or normal nylon yarn. However, on the mainstream military parachutes in the world, considering the environment of sky jump at high altitudes, most manufacturers will choose nylon 66 material with higher strength and performance. This material was first invented and manufactured by invista. Compared with normal nylon, nylon 66 has higher friction resistance and a wider range of resistance to low and high temperatures. At the moment the main parachute open, the fabric will be supported apart in a very short time, and the friction between the fabrics will cause the temperature to rise sharply. The high-temperature resistance of nylon 66 material will be demonstrated, making it safer to open parachute.
The data in this article is from the PIA: https://www.pia.com/product/pia-c-44378
