Tech Briefs Magazine - December 2023 - 37

SPINOFF
N
ASA intended its Reusable Launch
Vehicle program of the 1990s to
demonstrate technologies that would
enable hypersonic spaceplanes to make
affordable, repeated trips into space. It
was never intended to improve the performance
of hunting, skiing, and sports
gear, but, more than 20 years after its
cancellation, that's what's happened.
One of the program's most successful
spinoffs has been a substance dubbed
Protective Coating for Ceramic Materials,
or PCCM, which NASA's Ames
Research Center (Silicon Valley, CA),
invented to protect the spaceplanes'
heat shields during atmospheric re-entry.
NASA patented the coating, and
Wessex Inc. - now known as Emisshield
Inc. - licensed it and started
developing commercial products.
The material isn't a traditional insulator,
and it's not reflective. Instead, it
has remarkably high emissivity, meaning
it could absorb heat from a heat shield
and radiate it away from the spacecraft.
Emisshield has adapted PCCM into dozens
of formulas now coating industrial
equipment around the world.
Spinoff is NASA's annual publication featuring
successfully commercialized NASA technology. This
commercialization has contributed to the development
of products and services in the fields of health and
medicine, consumer goods, transportation, public safety,
computer technology, and environmental resources.
NASA's Emissive Material Adapted for High-Tech Fabrics
A coating material developed for protecting spaceplanes' heat shields is now being used in
outerwear, sports uniforms, and jeans.
In 2013, Brad Poorman and Jim Hind
incorporated Clean Textile Technology
LLC (North Naples, FL) and were
looking for a niche in high-tech textiles
when they learned of PCCM. They approached
Emisshield, which agreed to license
its technology exclusively to them
for use in fabrics in exchange for a share
in the brand.
By 2015, Trizar was up and running,
with commercial partners turning out a
combined 300,000 or so jackets that year.
Since then, the company has advanced
its technology and worked its way into
jeans, sports uniforms, and even face
masks. In cold-weather gear, which is
most of the company's business, the material
emits body heat back to the wearer.
Trizar also produces low-emissivity formulas
for hot weather, which reflect heat
away from the body to keep people cool.
" During the pandemic, Emisshield
was awarded patents around the fibers
and fabrics we had developed, and we
did a lot of R&D while the factories were
shut down, " Poorman said.
At first, the emissive ingredients were
printed onto fabrics, but the team has
now devised ways to incorporate them
into thread or yarn before it's turned
into cloth. " By getting it into the yarn,
we've been able to deliver performance
without adding any weight and with
much less cost, " Poorman said.
Many commercial breakthroughs
have come with these developments. A
few years ago, Endeavor Athletic started
using Trizar in some of its training apparel,
and O'Neill put it into skiing and
snowboarding jackets. Now customers
The Lockheed Martin X-33 X-plane, shown in this artist's rendering, was intended to demonstrate
technology pioneered under NASA's Reusable Launch Vehicle program in the 1990s. The program
was cancelled in 2001, but an emissive heat shield coating invented at Ames Research Center under
the initiative has since found widespread commercial success as the Emisshield product line.
(Image: NASA)
Tech Briefs, December 2023
www.techbriefs.com
Around 2000, two ceramic tiles - one treated
with an early version of Emissield and one untreated
- were subjected to an oxyacetylene
torch. The untreated tile, top, started beading
after 30 seconds, while the one with the paper-thin
layer of protection showed little damage
after two minutes. (Image: NASA)
37

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