Hermetic Seals for Chemical/Biological Protective Garments

Interfaces on existing military chemical/biological protection garments are not designed to fully eliminate air gaps at fabric folds, fabric surfaces, or hook-and-loop closures, and thus do not provide a hermetic barrier against exposure. Creare proposes to develop a hermetic garment closure system that seals gaps at interfaces and provides high connection strength between two cloth articles as well as between cloth and smooth surfaces, such as for garment interfaces to rubber gloves, boots, and respirator seals. Our closure system employs a novel gasket approach that fills voids and provides enhanced adhesion and sealing to surfaces with micrometer-scale roughness. In Phase I, we will develop preliminary prototype gasket materials and closures and measure their sealing properties and mechanical strength to demonstrate the feasibility of the closure sealing approach. In the Option phase, we will improve our closure designs for manufacturability and integration with existing military chemical/biological protective garments. In Phase II, we will refine the fabrication methods for our gasket materials and produce and test prototypical closure systems.