Chemists uncover mysteries: Lab looks for clues to potential problems before they happen

Published March 20, 2014
By John Parker
Staff Writer

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE -- Lifting up a clear plastic baggie from a laboratory table, chemist Koree Clanton-Arrowood pointed to the latest mystery that scientists in her Analytical Chemistry Section were trying to solve. Inside was a black chip the size of a tick.

"Stuff like this indicates wear in an engine," she said. "If it's coming off, something's wearing down."

Knowing when an aircraft part is starting to fail, or if an alloy or metal part is becoming dangerously brittle, is a big part of the sleuthing done by the 76th Maintenance Support Squadron of the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex. Its laboratories are Bldg. 3001, close to the overhaul and repair stations where mysteries often begin.

"They'll get stuff and they'll go, 'What is this grossness that just came out of this engine?'" Ms. Clanton-Arrowood explains. "We work closely with the metal ID portion of our lab on a lot of that stuff because there could be metallic components to it, as well as organic components. We piece all of this together for them so they can find out where the failure's going on in the engine."

Ms. Clanton-Arrowood, a master's degree graduate of the University of Oklahoma and a former adjunct professor at Oklahoma City Community College, has worked in the lab for two years. Her job can variously entail analyzing metals or organics, such as fluids and plastics.

Analyzing metals and alloys can involve heating up objects, shooting intense X-rays at them or making a spectral analysis to determine their elemental composition.

In addition to testing clues to potential problems, the lab analyzes incoming new aircraft parts, fluids and other materials for the Navy and Air Force to make sure they were manufactured correctly and ready to go. Having the right aircraft part isn't as simple as ordering an air filter at an auto parts store.

"For one, looks can be deceiving," Ms. Clanton-Arrowood said. "It may look like the right part, but it's not the right material. And the different materials have different properties. So you may need something that's going to get really gooey at a high temperature and that's what you're looking for, or you're going to go, 'No, no, no, that's not what I want. I need it to stand up and hold its shape at XY temperature.'

"We make sure it's right," she said. "We make sure it's dimensionally correct, we make sure it's chemically correct, we make sure it's materials correct. Before we allow anything our aircraft, it goes through this process."

Ms. Clanton-Arrowood and her husband, Donald Arrowood, an engineer with the B-52 System Program Office, live in Edmond and are raising Oliver, 3. Their second child is due in August.

In addition to her chemistry duties, Ms. Clanton-Arrowood routinely speaks to students ranging from fourth-graders to collegians about pursing STEM careers (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).

To get younger students excited about the sciences, she and other scientists who volunteer with Tinker's K-12 science and engineering outreach programs often present a few theatrics. Ms. Clanton-Arrowood likes to whip out her "phaser," as she calls it, actually a handheld X-ray fluorescence "gun" that can analyze a metal in about 12 seconds.

"They're generally just shocked at how quickly I can tell them what the elements are," she said.

Cynthia Kennedy, the K-12 science and engineering outreach coordinator in the workforce development branch of the OC-ALC/EN, recalled Ms. Clanton-Arrowood's part in a recent presentation to all the fifth-grade girls in the Chickasha school district. The goal was to inspire the girls to enter technical fields in which women are underrepresented.

"She is one of my go-to people," Ms. Kennedy said. "She's a woman in the STEM field, and the kids, they gravitate to her. In the event in Chickasha, these girls were just fascinated and hanging on every word."

Ms. Clanton-Arrowood said she loves the opportunity to inspire young people and what she gets to do every day.

"The best part of this job is you walk in the door and you never know what's going to be on your plate," she said. "You absolutely never know. There is some routine to it, but for the most part it's something a little different every day that keeps you on your toes. It's by far the best job in the Air Force."