rcpilz@ablnc.ATT.COM (Robert C. Pilz) (07/01/88)
Here is an interesting piece of trivia. A company called NALCO supplies
a chemical component used in the heat tiles. The first sample they
gave NASA was a bit out of the correct ph range. Because it was out of
range this chemical behaved differently than it usually does. Usually
it is just sort of a slurry. But, because of the ph factor, NASA
was able to pull it into strands, make a mesh out of it, and fabricate
the tiles. When NALCO got the go ahead to deliver larger quantities
of the stuff, they put their best chemists on the job. You know
what happened? The chemists detected the "flaw" in the sample and
corrected the ph. They were confident that NASA would love the fact
that they were using tighter controls, higher quality. But, NASA
rejected the product due to the fact that the "improved" product
did not behave as well as the sample.
With much scurrying around, ways were found to bring the product
back out of range so that fibres could be pulled from it.
I do not remember the exact name of the product. I think it
is largely silicone. I also don't remember if the ph were high
or low out of range.
What is interesting is something flukey like this working to
the benefit rather than failing.
R. C. Pilz
AT&T IMS
Orlando, FL
Disclaimer: I've never worked for NALCO. I'm a
programmer, not a chemist. I do not
intend to imply that NALCO makes anything
that is low quality, rather the opposite.