Polyimide Foam named NASA commercial invention of 2007

Washington, Dec 20 (ANI): Polyimide foam, which is a multi-use foam that insulates for sound, heat and cold with aerospace and down to Earth applications, has been named as the NASA Commercial Invention of the Year 2007.

The foam can be flexible or rigid, structural or non-structural and is highly durable.

Its density can be varied for a variety of uses including fire protection since it generates no harmful combustion products and has been tested at temperatures above 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

For future NASA exploration vehicles, the foam could be used in applications where reduced weight and increased durability are necessary for missions to the moon or Mars.

Several commercial companies have purchased hundreds of thousands of board feet for various applications because it is lighter and safer than earlier materials.

The foam outperforms similar materials currently used in the aerospace industry.

The inventors, Roberto Cano, Brian Jensen and Erik Weiser from NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, and Miguel Vazquez of Polyumac Techno Core, Inc. in Hialeah, Florida, will be honored during the NASA Project Management Challenge Conference in early 2009.

Polyumac is the licensee and manufacturer of NASA's polyimide foam technology. (ANI)