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Parylene Application Hall of
Fame
As a Leader in Parylene Technology, over the years SCS has had
an honor to work on some of the most cutting edge, fascinating, or simply
historically significant projects in technology. This is a collection of
just a few of the projects we are especially proud to support.
RMS Titanic
On April 12, 1912 The RMS Titanic hit an
Iceberg as it made its maiden transatlantic voyage. The wreckage of the
Titanic sat undisturbed for close to 80 years in the harsh chilled
salt-water environment 5000 ft below the surface of the North Atlantic.
Recovery efforts ran into a difficult problem when recovering paper
products such as magazines, luggage tags, and boarding passes, from the
wreckage site. Paper products recovered from the wreckage were left too
delicate to take the transition from the waterlogged state to the natural
dried state.
SCS was called in to find a method to use Parylene to stabilize these
items so that generations would be able to see these items first hand.
Today these items can be touched, picked up, and shared by many. These
items would have been otherwise lost to ocean if not for SCS.
Mars Global Observer
Any object launched into space undergoes a tremendous
amount of stress during launch and even during space travel. The force of
acceleration shocks the delicate electronics. The rapid change in
temperature and pressure can cause condensation to develop. And the
vibration and movement of the space vehicle can cause dust and other
contaminants to become dislodged and may interfere with the operation of
the electronics.
For this purpose, most
electronics in space are protected with some type of coating. Because it
is difficult to impossible to repair any electronics once they are in
space, space engineers prefer to use the best available options from the
start and avoid potential problems in the future. In addition, cure
forces, gasses trapped in the coating, and the mass of coating are other
unique issues scientists and engineers need to consider in space system
designs.
This is what the people from SCS had to consider when they were asked
to coat the six instrument assemblies including the Mars Orbital Camera on
the Mars Global Observer Satellite.
The Mars Global Observer was a satellite launched in 1996 to map the
surface of the Martian terrain. The mission was highly successful and gave
us the best view to date, of topography of another planets surface.
International Space Station
Neptec Design Group, Ltd. of Kanata, Ontario, Canada, is
building the Space Vision System (SVS) that will be used in the
construction of the International Space Station by NASA and the space
agencies of 12 other countries.
The components of the Space Station will be carried into orbit by a
series of shuttle missions, and assembled over six year period.
The SVS uses special electronics, software and graphic displays to give
improved vision and thereby enhance control of the huge shuttle robot arm.
The system functions by tracking visual targets on items being handled,
using cameras on both the shuttle and the space station.
This tracking will give operators a precise, moving graphic image of
load position in three dimensions, and allow for more accurate control
than could be achieved using earlier robot arm controls. Before the SVS
concept was developed, astronauts had to rely on images from video
cameras, and on limited views through small spacecraft windows to guide
them in controlling robot functions. The new vision system will be used on
each shuttle mission as the station is assembled, allowing astronauts to
precisely control the spacecraft's robotic arm for docking, moving cargo,
and assembling components.
The Canadian electronics company is
supplying NASA with vision systems for both ground training of astronauts
at the Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston, Texas, and for use with the
International Space Station.
Construction
of the International Space Station is scheduled to begin with a December,
1998 flight, with completion anticipated by the year 2004 after 100
separate shuttle missions and assembly phases. The station will afford
scientists and engineers a platform for complex industrial and medical
experiments in the unique environment of space, and will serve as a
permanent orbiting science institute in
space.
Deep Space Propulsion Test
Parylene was recently used in a particularly exciting
aerospace project with Southwest Research - coating objects for Deep Space
1. This 770 lb. spacecraft was launched in July of 1998 to demonstrate a
variety of new technologies that will support ambitious future orbital and
deep space missions.
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This NASA project includes
an ion engine for propulsion in the vacuum of deep space. It operates by
expelling positively charged atoms generated from an inert gas, and uses
solar energy to create the reaction. The engine's collimator, a device
that aligns and controls ion flow, was coated with Parylene to protect its
surface before launch, during the rigors of departure from the earth's
atmosphere, and throughout the life of the mission. While an ion engine
creates only about 90 millinewtons (20 thousandths of a pound) of thrust,
this force creates slow but constant acceleration in the vacuum of deep
space, builds to very high speed over a period of months, and operates far
more efficiently than conventional chemical propulsion. Less than
12-inches long, and requiring a fuel supply of only 145 lbs., an ion
engine can be carried aloft by a relatively small, inexpensive launch
vehicle.
The Deep Space 1 ion engine was fired on September 18, 1999, and will
thrust almost continuously over the next three months as the NASA probe
approaches two comets for study. Deep Space 1 is managed by NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, for the NASA Office of
Space Science, Washington, DC.
Holocaust Era Bibles
In late 1994, an unassuming package arrived at the SCS Coating
Facility in Clear Lake Wisconsin. This package contained six small,
battered books, included a prayer book and the first five books of the
Biblical Old Testament known to Jewish people as the Torah.
The history of these careworn volumes sets them apart, for they
survived the Nazi Holocaust. It seems that these volumes were saved
through the efforts of a Swiss physician living in Germany, a Dr. Rupp who
was instrumental in rescuing a number or Polish and German Jews during
World War II.
The books were given to Dr. Rupp in Berlin by a Dr. Rosenblat; after
Dr. Rosenblat's escape from the Warsaw ghetto. They had been entrusted to
him, in turn, by a captive who requested that they be saved, treated with
reverence, and passed to a synagogue or other Jewish Institution.
It was too dangerous to take religious books out of Germany at the
time, so Dr. Rupp buried them before fleeing the city near the end of the
war. When the war ended, he returned to Berlin and dug up the books.
The years and the historic events had taken their toll on the books.
SCS was contacted to preserve the books by Yoram Curiel (An acquaintance
of Dr. Rupp's son). SCS devised a way to coat and preserve these books,
and stop the further disintegration. These books have since been donated
to a Jewish institution.
Parylene Race Car
Parylene has proven itself in another
unusual and unexpected application - stopping oil pan and valve cover oil
leaks on an SCCA C Modified Class racing engine. According to SCS CAD
designer Rick Swarts, his Ford 1600cc 4-cylinder power plant was plagued
with oil leakage, and since the valves on this small race car engine
require frequent manual adjustment, he had to replace the cork valve cover
gasket nearly every time the valve cover was removed.
At the suggestion of one of his co-workers, Rick decided to try coating
the gaskets with Parylene N to see if performance could be improved. He
was pleased to find that oil loss was reduced to zero, and the valve cover
gasket tolerates repeated removal and replacement without tearing. Swarts
explains that engine thermal cycling appears to be a major issue in gasket
life. The coefficients of thermal expansion for the three critical
components - valve cover (or oil pan), gasket and engine block - differ
substantially from one another. While the gaskets change very little in
size between hot and cold conditions compared to the block and head, and
since they tend to adhere to both surfaces, they are mechanically stressed
with every heat-up and cool-down cycle. This eventually fractures the cork
and allows oil to escape.
The racing engine has undergone at least 30 thermal cycles since the
Parylene-coated gaskets were installed, and the valve cover has been
removed and reinstalled a dozen times. Yet both engine gaskets continue to
perform with no damage and no oil loss.
IRS Evidence Recovery
As one of the unique ways SCS is helping our criminal justice
system, SCS has been involved in various projects with the Internal
Revenue Service on tax fraud cases.
It seems that in some cases of tax fraud, important evidence and/or tax
records are burned beyond recognition. Parylene is used to reinforce the
burned records so that they can be examined and used for evidence.
In one particular example, the IRS forensic experts were having
problems reviewing charred evidence critical in a particular tax fraud
case. The writing on the paper was still distinguishable, however the ash
segments were curled and extremely brittle.
A light Parylene coating reinforced the ashes so that they could be
reassembled (like a puzzle) into a single document. The individual pieces
were put between glass, examined, and submitted as critical evidence in
the relevant court case.
J.J. the Whale
A dehydrated and malnourished young gray whale, affectionately
nicknamed J.J. and found washed up on a California beach in the Winter of
1996, was nursed to health by SeaWorld in San Diego over a period of about
14 months.
SCS became
involved in this unusual project through Brent Stewart, Ph.D. senior
research biologist for Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute. Stewart played a
key role in the design and assembly of tracking instrumentation attached
to the young whale before its release back into the sea on March 31, 1998
to join other migrating gray whales on their long trip to summer waters
along the Alaskan coast.
Dr. Stewart
explains that transmitters attached to J.J.'s blubbery dorsal fin were
designed to monitor her activity for approximately 18 months. The
transmitters are fastened through the whale's tough skin with several
subdermal toggle anchors or mini harpoons. The biologist wanted to ensure
that the anchors would be completely biocompatible, with no chance of
rejection or ill effects to the young whale's body over time. Dr. Stewart
arranged for stainless-steel attachment hardware to be Parylene coated.
The
transmitter sends data bursts approximately every 40 seconds to two polar
satellites when the whale breaks the surface, forwarding data to the
SeaWorld institute including latitude, longitude and a record of depth as
the young whale dives and surfaces. Cable fastened to the toggle anchors
are designed to corrode and separate after about 18 months - the
anticipated life of its batteries. At that time the transmitter will fall
away and sink to the bottom of the ocean.
JSTARS Surveillance System
Parylene conformal coating makes an important contribution to
the performance of the U.S. military's recently-developed Joint Tactical
Information Distribution System - known as JSTARS. This airborne radar
system, used effectively during the Gulf War and by peacekeeping forces in
Bosnia, provides high resolution images of moving ground targets. It gives
commanders timely and accurate information on mobile enemy forces
operating within a very large area.
According to Jon Harris, the JSTARS Program Manager for Electromagnetic
Sciences, Inc., Norcross, Georgia, a critical JSTARS circuit board and
microwave antenna assembly is Parylene coated to protect it from the harsh
airborne environment. This microwave phase shifter subassembly is mounted
on the exterior of JSTARS surveillance aircraft, where it is exposed to
mechanical shock as well as wide variations in temperature and humidity.
Electromagnetic Sciences (ELMG) manufactures key components of the
JSTARS system. Harris explains that the company is a long-time user of
Parylene. "This is virtually the only coating that can do the job for the
JSTARS microwave phase shifter. It provides moisture resistance,
pinhole-free coverage, and dielectric protection - without adding
significant mass or thermal forces. Parylene ideally suits our protective
coating requirements," he said.
The unique protective properties of Parylene are achieved in a thin
film layer, adding very little weight to the complex radar subassembly.
JSTARS microwave phase shifter assembly.
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