Self-Healing Shape Memory Polymer Based Coatings for Protective Garments (1001-966)

Current CB garment systems such as Joint Services Lightweight Integrated Suit technology (JSLIST) and Joint Service Lightweight Integrated Suit Technology (JSLIST) Chemical Biological Coverall for combat vehicle crewmen (JC3) use a layer of absorptive carbon and selectively permeable membranes respectively offering protection against chemical and biological threats. It is not uncommon for garments to be torn/cut in the field during critical mission operation, compromising the protective capability of the ensemble. Typical field repair methods involve patching tears in the field, which is temporary, not completely effective and time consuming, further limiting mission capability. Triton proposes to develop novel coatings with the ability to autonomously repair tears/cuts in the CB protective garments. Since the proposed coating system is expected to be a next-to-skin application, the proposed effort will focus on chemistries that pose no health issues when selected materials are exposed to humans. It is expected that the coating will be applied/dispersed through the fabric layer of the protective ensemble as a conformal coating around the textile fibers or a fine non-woven mat. The target will be to add as little material as required to the ensemble in order to have minimal negative impact of garment weight, air permeability and comfort.