THE BIODEGRADATION OF FLUOROSILICONE

IMPORTANT IN AIRCRAFT, FLUOROSILICONES ARE WEATHERPROOF, WATER RESISTANT AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, LONG-LIVED. HOWEVER, THERE ARE NORMAL MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR INTERVALS DURING WHICH THE AIRCRAFT MUST BE STRIPPED. PRESENTLY, PHENOLIC SOLVENTS, HOT ALKALI METALS, FLUORINE GAS OR CHLORINE TRIFLUORIDE ARE EMPLOYED IN CONJUNCTION WITH SCRAPING. THIS CAN DAMAGE SURFACE AND UNDERLYING COMPOSITE MATERIAL. MICROBIAL DEGRADATION IS A SAFER, MORE EFFICIENT AND INEXPENSIVE TECHNIQUE AND CAN BE TARGET SELECTIVE. TECHNICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES PROPOSES TO STUDY THE FEASIBILITY OF DELIBERATELY BIODEGRADING OR TRANSFORMING THE FULLY CHARACTERIZED AIR FORCE CURED AND UNCURED FLUOROSILICONE ELASTOMERS. DEGRADATION EXPERIMENTS WILL BE RUN IN CONJUNCTION WITH ANALYTICAL AND ENZYMATIC ANALYSIS TO STUDY THE METABOLIC PROCESS. THE RATE AND EXTENT OF THE BIODEGRADABILITY OR TRANSFORMATION WILL BE EVALUATED, EXAMINING CHEMICAL, PHYSICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS, IN ORDER TO FULLY OPTIMIZED THE BIOLOGICAL PROCESS.