Meh, I think the real reason it was never sold is it just wasn't that special. There is a very low probability that it would have been a product that would have been commercially competitive with existing thermal protection materials (from either cost or performance point of view).
For the high temp demos it was undoubtedly acting as an ablative. Ablatives have very limited applications as most high temp processes require long term durability. For the few applications needing ablatives (rockets) there are generally strength, durability and processing requirements as well as issues like vacuum outgassing or long term chemical stability that could marginalise the usefulness of whatever starlite was. There are also no shortage of well understood and very cheap ablatives alternatives like Oak or phenolic resin impregnated carbon (Pica). For other applications requiring durability we have access to very cheap and very low conductivity ceramic felts made out of Alumina, Silica, Mullites fibres that can withstand up to 1700°C as well as other low thermal conductivity materials with huge variety in different performance attributes (depending on what is important), even 3000°C is possible with graphite fiber insulation in inert atmospheres. On 17 May 2012 21:03, Alan J Fletcher <a...@well.com> wrote: > > > The power of cool: Whatever became of Starlite? > > http://www.newscientist.com/**article/mg21428641.700-the-** > power-of-cool-whatever-became-**of-starlite.html?full=true<http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21428641.700-the-power-of-cool-whatever-became-of-starlite.html?full=true> > > (Free registration required ... access for a few days only). > > In 1990 Maurice Ward demonstrated on BBC's "Tomorrow's World > http://www.youtube.com/watch?**v=W4nnLP--uTI<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4nnLP--uTI> > a coating which he painted onto an egg, which resisted a blowtorch ... > after a few minutes the egg was still runny. > > Subsequent tests at various Government and University labs -- including > lasers and arc lamps -- confirmed its efficiency. > > But Ward never revealed the "secret sauce" -- which he called "gubbins" > -- and used confusing and ever-changing pseudo-scientific terms to > describe it. > > "During negotiations, Ward would ask for £1 million pounds one day, then > £10 million the next, [corporate atty Greenberg] says". > > He was interviewed in 2009 by the UK The Daily Telegraph newspaper > <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/**technology/5158972/Starlite-** > the-nuclear-blast-defying-**plastic-that-could-change-the-**world.html<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/5158972/Starlite-the-nuclear-blast-defying-plastic-that-could-change-the-world.html> > > > ** Lots of detail there ** > > Ward died in 2011 ... and it's not presently clear that the "secret sauce" > recipe has been preserved. > > (lenr.qumbu.com -- analyzing the Rossi/Focardi eCat -- and the defkalion > hyperion -- Hi, google!) >
