THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 27, 1996 TAG: 9603270001
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
NASA Langley Research Center, a federal aeronautics complex in Hampton, would appear to have little to offer Virginia Power, an electrical utility.
But scientific progress has a way of bestowing benefits in diverse places, often leading to corporate savings and good-paying jobs.
Langley researcher Robert Bryant, seeking a super-slick, heat-resistant coating for the next generation of supersonic airplanes, has invented a superplastic that appears capable of saving Virginia Power millions of dollars a year in maintenance and repair costs. Virginia Power heard about the substance at a high-tech exposition on the Peninsula last year. On Friday the utility hired Virginia Tech to test the superplastic in the real world.
As staff writer James Schultz reported Friday, ``If environmental and toxicity tests pan out, the superplastic will be applied as a protective coating to water intake pipes at the Surry nuclear power station.''
Presumably the coating, which can be sprayed on like paint, will prove too slick for sea-weed-resembling hydroids to cling to. In large numbers, those aquatic creatures can reduce water flow and electric-power generation by as much as 20 percent, and the weekly cost of removing them with high-pressure water hoses can mount to thousands of dollars. Virginia Power savings may translate into lower electricity rates.
The superplastic may well prove to be the first nonpolluting coating to reduce or eliminate conduit clogging in everything from factories to boats.
Mixing the superplastic with other materials like concrete, steel and ceramics produces hybrid substances that also could prove immensely useful.
NASA has chosen Imitec Inc., a Schenectady, N.Y., firm to manufacture the superplastic and provide samples to companies interesting in licensing the technology.
Much more is going on at Langley, of course. Another Langley invention receiving national attention is a carbon-monoxide filter and detector.
It bears repeating that scientific progress is crucial to the nation's economic well-being in today's hyper-competitive global business climate. Only through new and better products and manufacturing methods can the United States achieve the productivity gains necessary to remain an economic leader. Investments in science - both research and training - are necessary investments in our future.
The national trend is towards less federal and corporate research spending at a time when what's required is more. by CNB