WEBVTT

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DAISY: It's fire proof...

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Is an excellent acoustic and
thermal insulator

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and it's NASA's Commercial
invention of the year.

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What is it?
Find out next... on Real World.

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? [music] ?

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DAISY: This is what it sounds
like outside of an airplane...

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[jet noise]

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And this is what it sounds like
inside of the airplane...

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still pretty loud.

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But thanks to technology
developed by NASA, it might
soon sound like this...

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[quiet]
First class sound-proofing.

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And that's just one of the
applications for a versatile

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product co-developed by NASA
chemists and a private

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company called Polyumac Techno
Core.

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ERIK WEISER: This technology,
we call it LaRC FPF-44.

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It's a flexible polyimide foam.

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DAISY: Erik Weiser is a
Materials Engineer and the

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assistant branch head of
Advanced Materials and

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Processing at NASA's Langley
Research Center.

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ERIK: This material is a low
density, flexible foam

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DAISY: Density equals mass
divided by volume.

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ERIK: Very low density, open
cell foam and that's good for
acoustic insulation.

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And what you're hoping for is
that the sound comes in

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and gets trapped, inside the
foam.

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ERIK: Erik and his teammates
Roberto Cano and Brian Jensen,

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work here at Langley's Advanced
Materials and Processing
Branch.

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Beyond these walls, they are
developing a material that

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will have its advantages over
fiberglass, which is a

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standard airplane cabin
insulator.

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Together with Juan Miguel
Vazquez at Polyumac Technicore,

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they have come up with a new
material that they think will

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have significant commercial
applications.

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ERIK: Through testing and some
modifications we've done

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we're on the right track for
developing a replacement for
fiberglass.

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DAISY: In addition to excellent
acoustic insulation properties,

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the foam also absorbs heat,

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making it an excellent thermal
insulator.

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Plus... it's fire resistant.

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The team is working to make a
version of the product that

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is a similar in density to
fiberglass, which weighs in

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at about six and a half
kilograms per cubic meter.

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ERIK: The aircraft industry
would like the lightest

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acoustic treatment it can get.
So we're trying to reduce the
density.

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DAISY: And it's not just
airplanes...

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Polyimide foam's flexibility
and ability to handle extreme

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conditions make it excellent
for use in spacecraft.

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ERIK: This actually is a
thermal formed article that

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we did as a test application
for the space shuttle, where

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they have an icing issue on the
feed line bracket.

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DAISY: It's great for
watercraft, too.

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The United States Navy uses
more polyimide foam than any
other organization.

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ERIK: Several classes of Navy
ships, they use polyimide

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foam as interior wall
insulation and pipe covers.

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Its thermal and acoustic
insulation and its non
flammable.

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So that's key on a navy ship,
the protection of the sailors.

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DAISY: The NASA Langley team
has spent a lot of time in

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the lab, refining the process
to get the foam just right.

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ERIK: The isocyanate and the
dianhydride will form the foam,

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the polyimide, the base, then
you have other components in

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there that make it more
flexible, control the bubble
size,

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and then you have flame
retardant. There's a

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catalyst to get the reaction
started, to cause the

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reaction to happen at a certain
rate.

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DAISY: These guys make it look
pretty easy.

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But it's a little trickier than
it sounds.

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ERIC: So what you are trying to
do is contain the gas

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that's in the cells, that holds
it inflated, at the

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same time, rigidizing the
outside structure, sort of like
a balloon.

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And once that balloon becomes
hard,

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then you want the gas out of
the system.

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You've got a competition going
between stabilizing

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the system and getting the
bubbles out. If you

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stabilize it before the gas
comes out, as you continue to

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heat up the gas it'll keep
expanding and blow it apart.

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So this is what happens when it
goes wrong.

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DAISY: As chemists continue to
refine it and the

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processes involved in making
it,

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polyimide foam could be
produced on a mass scale,

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dropping the price to a point
where it would be cost

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effective to put it in homes
and other buildings,

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providing a more efficient
insulator than that typically
used in such dwellings.

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Polyimide foam... pretty cool
stuff.

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So cool, it was recently names
NASA commercial invention of
the year.

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A shout out to Erik, Roberto,
Brian and Juan

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who were all honored for their
work.

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