THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 28, 1996 TAG: 9603280344
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
Add one more space age invention to NASA's ready-for-prime-time list.
On Wednesday, scientists from NASA Langley Research Center pitched representatives from 40 engine and engine-parts manufacturers across the country on what it is calling the carbon-carbon piston. The new design could lead to the world's first oilless engine.
``We're talking about retooling an entire industry,'' said Burton Northam, a Langley senior research engineer in charge of the piston testing program at the Hampton aeronautics complex. ``It would be a new source of raw materials. We're talking drastic change.''
Wednesday's meeting was set up to spark licensing agreements that Langley officials hope to sign before year's end. It comes on the heels of last Friday's announcement by Langley of a $100,000 agreement with Virginia Power to commercialize another breakthrough, a substance NASA calls a superplastic. The superplastic could create a $1 billion industry if tests at the Surry nuclear power station confirm its worth as a protective coating and as a durable ingredient in materials fabrication.
While the new piston won't have the same economic impact, officials said its adoption could mean a radical redirection in engine design.
The piston, Langley inventors say, is light, strong, self-lubricating and able to withstand extremely high temperatures. Its 10-year-plus development grew out of the efforts of Langley researcher Allan Taylor, a car enthusiast who died several years ago, and the Hampton center's early participation in efforts to develop a thermal protection system for the space shuttle.
The material that comprises the carbon-carbon piston is a sort of glorified charcoal: a heated, blackened carbon fiber embedded in a carbon matrix, like steel rods in reinforced concrete.
But carbon-carbon isn't exactly the same as the briquets favored by backyard barbecuers; rather, it's a purified form of carbon that doesn't lose strength or stiffness even when temperatures rise above 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit, the melting point of aluminum.
Fashioned in the shape of pistons, valves and cylinder sleeves and blocks, carbon-carbon would allow internal combustion engines to run very efficiently, reducing polluting emissions while boosting mileage. The effect is dramatic in diesel engines; less so in those powered by gasoline.
``We believe this technology has significant potential, particularly for small engines which are notorious for their emissions,'' said Rosa C. Webster, an engineer with Langley's Technology Applications Group. ``The downside is that the piston is so expensive.''
The ones made by Langley have run between $500 and $1,000 per piston. Assuming improvements to the manufacturing process, carbon-carbon costs would have to - and will - plummet to between $20 and $150 per piston before they are widely incorporated, the researchers say.
If the pistons pan out, buyers are likely to see them first in high-performance engines, such those on the NASCAR race circuit. Airplanes, snowmobiles, hovercraft, jet skis and lawnmowers could follow.
Initial market size could grow to the millions of dollars.
Cracking the personal-automobile market will be harder. An enormous investment in new equipment would need to be made before gasoline-burning carbon-carbon engines would be available to consumers. Still, representatives from both Ford and General Motors were in attendance at Wednesday's briefing.
Also present was Howell ``Nick'' Jones, one of the owners of AMW Cuyuna Engine Co., a South Carolina firm based in Beaufort. Jones, who said his company builds engines for race cars, airplanes and hovercraft, appeared enthusiastic in the aftermath of the Langley presentation.
``I'm very impressed,'' he said. ``This technology will have universal applications. It will dramatically help our products.''
Eventually, say the NASA scientists, carbon-carbon could also end up in a wide range of consumer products, and perhaps be eventually incorporated into implantable medical devices. If so, and if the automobile market develops, the advance could be worth hundreds of millions, according to Langley estimates. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]
BETH BERGMAN
The Virginian-Pilot
Philip H. Glaude, who runs the Carbon Engine Lab at NASA Langley,
holds a piston froma a 454cc Chevrolet engine.
by CNB