Develop and demonstrate an easily applied and maintainable, high-temperature (600F) pipe and equipment insulation for military ship application. The insulation must be durable, repairable, and must meet all current and anticipated environmental regulations. Status: SORDAL met or exceeded all technical objectives of N01-065 during the course of the Phase I program which started May 11, 2001, and concluded November 11, 2001. SORDAL demonstrated: 1. The feasibility of a sprayed in place polyimide foam repair insulation material; 2. A working design concept for the sprayed insulation delivery system; 3. A polyimide-based material that could be applied by brush or putty knife to small areas to affect long lasting insulation repair on a variety of current materials; 4. The ability to produce a technically superior closed-cell polyimide foam product that can be delivered in sheet form or prefabricated shapes. The insulation chemistry is polyimide based and is environmental inert in the cured state that it would be found in all the products listed above. Installation of all the above systems would require no special tooling and would be applied in much the same way as current polyimide foam products, except in the case of the spray material where a special spray apparatus needs to be further developed. The sheet and pre-formed materials offer extremely high closed cell content and would therefore not exhibit the moisture retention problems of previously used polyimide products. This material's durability and ability to be produced at varying densities makes it a replacement candidate for current or future applications of calcium silicate in thermal ranges from -200oF to +600oF. In the higher densities, it also exhibits apparent toughness that would make it appropriate for high traffic horizontal applications. SORDAL is licensed to produce the precursor materials and, with continuing improvements in the production process, will bring the cost of the raw material in line with the currently available open cell polyimide products within the next 24 months. Specifically, SORDAL, Inc., developed a durable insulation material, as well as the related repair systems, that performs similarly to MIL-I-2781 (calcium silicate) at temperatures up to 600F. This durable polyimide-based insulation material (SOLREX) is much lighter than calcium silicate, has similar thermal properties at like thicknesses, and can be prefabricated to conform to complex design geometries. Unlike the current polyimide based material, DOD-I-24688, Type I, the SOLREX material has a very high closed cell content (~95%) and will not retain or absorb moisture when used in high humidity chilled water applications. This will result in a far more user-friendly polyimide insulation material than is currently available. Phase II efforts will be directed at lowering the cost of the raw materials used to produce the precursors, increasing the production processing capability of the converted SOLREX material, and land and sea based durability testing. Phase III transition plans will be focused at product qualifications and specifications and ramping up production capacity to fill projected product pipelines. Application/
Benefits: SOLREX based insulation products are ideal for onboard ship use as piping, equipment, or hull insulation where high-performance in thermal ranges from -250F to +600F is critical. This insulation is very well suited for inclusion in thermal protection systems demanding stable performance in temperature ranges from -423F to +600F. In naval applications, substantial weight savings of up to 75% will be seen when used in place of current materials conforming to MIL-I-2781. On large platforms, this can translate into the ability to redistribute large quantities of mass into more desireable applications and/or configurations. On platforms where speed is essential, the weight reductions will translate into improved performance. The thermal conductivity properties of this material will also allow for thinner thicknesses to achieve the desired amount of shielding. This will lead to more efficient piping and equipment layouts thereby opening critical space that will be utilized for everything from weapons systems to crew comforts
