NONFLAMMABLE AIRCRAFT HYDRAULIC FLUIDS SUITABLE FOR USE IN EXTREME ENVIRONMENTS

THE GOAL OF THIS RESEARCH PROGRAM IS TO PREPARE SEVERAL NONFLAMMABLE HYDRAULIC FLUIDS WHICH CAN BE USED AT TEMPERATURES ABOVE 275 DEG F. PRELIMINARY EXPERIMENTS INDICATE THAT WE CAN MAKE A FLUID WHICH CAN BE USED IN THE TEMPERATURE RANGE OF -65 TO 375 DEG F. THE DIRECT FLUORINATION PROCESS INVOLVES THE SELECTION OF A HYDROCARBON WITH THE PROPER STRUCTURE WHICH IS CONVERTED TO A FLUOROCARBON BY A CONTROLLED REACTION WITH ELEMENTAL FLUORINE. SINCE THE STARTING MATERIALS ARE HYDROCARBONS, NUMEROUS STRUCTURES CAN BE MADE DUE TO THE WIDE VARIETY OF MONOMERS AND SYNTHETIC TECHNIQUES AVAILABLE. SPECIAL EMPHASIS WILL BE PLACED ON SELECTING INEXPENSIVE STARTING MATERIALS SO THAT THE FINAL COST OF THE FLUID WILL NOT EXCEED THAT OF A CHLOROTRIFLUOROETHYLENE-BASE FLUID (CTFE). THE MAJORITY OF THE RESEARCH PROPOSED IS GEARED TOWARDS PREPARING STRUCTURES WHICH WILL HAVE BULK MODULUS VALUES COMPARABLE TO THAT OF CTFE.