Electric chemists have developed base stocks for hydraulic fluids and lubricants for an aircraft nuclear propulsion system, which can withstand higher temperatures and radiation dosages than any fluid stocks in common use today, according to D. R. Shoults, the general manager of the Company's Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Department (ANPD). The new fluids, for use in ANPD hydraulic systems and bearings, were developed in the company's General Engineering Laboratory, Schenectady, N. Y., through ANPD sponsorship, under Atomic Energy Commission and U. S. Air Force contract. Other companies carried out similar programs for general Air Force use.
Shoults said that these fluids, called metapotyphenyl ethers, could find applications also in supersonic equipment, such as rockets and space vehicles, wherever temperatures and radiation are critical. In addition, the materials hold promise as liquid insulation or dielectric liquids in commercial electrical apparatus.
The organic chemistry staff at the General Engineering Laboratory first selected a small number of possibilities that should be thermally resistant, based on inherently radiation-resistant structure and freedom from unstable groups of atoms. After months of synthetic and testing work, the metapolyphenyl ethers formed one of three series of materials for further development and finally proved to be the most stable thermally.