Study of outgassing and decomposition of space shuttle heat protection tiles, fillers and adhesive

The purpose of this project was to determine the chemicals desorbing from the space shuttle heat protection tiles. The original protocol for this project involved direct insertion probe mass spectrometry (DIPMS) analysis of the outgassing products from the tiles. However, this method proved unsatisfactory due to the large number of compounds desorbing from the tiles. A purge and trap technique was then employed to collect and separate the chemicals desorbing from the tiles. The maximum temperature in this analysis was 180 C which is the gas chromatograph fused silica capillary column's temperature limit. The desorption was also carried out at atmospheric pressure with helium as the purge gas. A description of the modified protocol is given. All compounds are tentatively identified.