Low-Cost CNT Obscurants from Vehicle/Aircraft Exhaust and Diffusion Flames

Although visual obscurants ("smoke screens") have a long history on the battlefield, use of infrared obscurants (IROs) is comparatively new. IROs are required when the enemy possesses IR based equipment (e.g., thermal sights and heat seeking missiles). Because recent developments have greatly increased the availability of such equipment to numerous military (and non-military groups) around the world, the need for advanced IROs is becoming increasingly important. Although numerous IROs are available, most have limited performance and suffer from environmental and health issues. Among the most promising technologies for future IROs is the carbon nanotube (CNT). In fact, the U.S. Army believes that CNTs may increase IRO effectiveness by approximately a factor of ten. However, currently available CNT production technologies are expensive; and because production cannot be practically implemented in the field, dispersion will prove difficult due to high self-adhesion energies of CNTs. The proposed SBIR program will lead to field deployable production technologies based on traditional low-cost combustion chemistries and equipment. The proposed Phase I will demonstrate direct production of aerosolized CNTs as well as their potential as obscurants. Moreover, the proposed program will lead to low-cost production technologies based on vehicle/aircraft exhaust, resulting in on-demand production of CNT obscurants.