Nancy Garcia
Los Alamos National Laboratory
When surfboard material manufacturer Clark Foam closed shop last year, the nation's $200-million surfboard manufacturing market appeared headed for a wipeout.
Hearing the news, Sandia National Laboratories' (SNL) LeRoy Whinnery, who describes himself as "a warm-water surfer" (as opposed to his wife, whom he says "will surf anywhere"), believed he just might have a solution — a foam initially developed to protect sensitive equipment from harsh mechanical environments, known as TufFoam™.
Now two licensees are evaluating the SNL-developed foam for this use, and scores of inquiries are being explored about this field and other uses, including insulation and structural core applications.
The material is a water-blown, close-cell, rigid polyurethane foam that features formulations with densities as low as 2 pounds per cubic foot.
News of TufFoam™ being considered as a potential replacement for surfboard manufacturing has spread rapidly through news agencies, television, magazines, newspapers, and trade journals since the licensing opportunity was announced in February.
"It can be used for thermal and electrical insulation, and potentially as a core material for the automobile and aerospace industries," said Scott Vaupen, who began the commercialization effort in Business Development Support Dept. 8529, where Jim Wilhelm is now handling TufFoam™ agreements and inquiries. Jim points out that the material is unique in its ability to withstand high-rate impact without fracture or loss of structural integrity. In addition, it's also being considered for use as industrial thermal insulation for liquefied natural gas storage tanks.
Clark Foam closed its doors suddenly late last year, citing the impact of evertightening environmental regulations on the manufacturing of their polyurethane surfboard blanks. The move led to nearpanic, particularly in California, by manufacturers and sellers of surfboards who fear they will not be able to find the high strength-to-weight ratio surfboard blanks necessary to make the boards.
Surf historian Matt Warshaw, in an article in the Santa Barbara News-Press, said "it's the equivalent of removing lumber from the housing industry."
Largely due to its low density, SNL's TufFoam™ might very well fit the bill as a drop-in replacement material. A key feature of TufFoam™ is that it does not contain toluene diisocyanate (TDI), the chemical used in the production of the polyurethane foam surfboard blanks that is most problematic with respect to environmental regulations.
Another attractive feature of the SNL product is that all of the chemicals used to make TufFoam™ are commercially available in commodity quantities. The material is currently formulated to be processed in a batch mode, but the processing schedule can be modified for machine mixing or injection molding.
So, will a foam developed for America's nuclear weapons program save the American surfboard industry? Maybe. LeRoy hopes so. "Yeah, I'm really looking forward to surfing on a TufFoam™ board," he said. "That would be pretty awesome."
Originally created for the National Nuclear Security Administration to protect sensitive electronic and mechanical structures from harsh environments, LANL's foam may be ideally suited for surfboard blanks, car bumpers, and airplane wings.
SNL materials researcher LeRoy Whinnery poses with two TufFoam™ samples. Originally created for the NNSA to protect sensitive electronic and mechanical structures from harsh environments, the foam's properties may be ideally suited for surfboard blanks and other applications such as car bumpers and airplane wings.
