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Originally appeared in "Aerospace Technology Innovation" Volume 6, Number 3 May/June 1998
Ames Research Center is offering licensing options to manufacture and
distribute, as welll as seeking industry partnerships to further develop, a low-density rigid ceramic
composite called Toughened Uni-Piece Fibrous Insulation with(TUFI) multiple applications.
Its resistance in extreme heat environments is between 20 to 100 times more
than coating currently used on Space Shuttle reusable surface insulation tiles. TUFI performs well in
convectively heated environment at temperatures in excess of 1,260 degrees Celsius (2,300 degrees Fahrenheit),
and it is very lightweight. It can be machined and molded and has manipilative properties, such as density,
thickness and surface porosity.
TUFI can be used in construction for improved, lightweight drywall, ceiling
material and roofing shingles. It can also be used to insulate boxes for electrical units and wiring, to
make lightweight tools designed to work with heated objects or to make bricks for use in furnaces and fireplaces
in which temperatures do not consistently exceed 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit.
TUFI is easy to waterproof, possesses superb insulating qualities to enhance
existing thermal and acoustic insulation in any structure and can be custom-tailored. TUFI is a new process
resulting from an effort to improve reusable surface insulation coatings, in which the system's surface
density was intentionally reduced from that of the fully dense reaction cured glass coatings on the Space Shuttle.
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