Disposable Chemical Detection

Since the end of the Gulf War significant concern regarding the health and safety of the solders and sailors has been raised. It is clear that the potential for exposure to hazardous chemicals due to chronic and acute environmental threats from the poor environmental practices of host nations, as well as collateral damage from warfare and terrorism, is faced by deployed soldiers and sailors every day. The absence of an early warning mechanism for the detection of these threats can be hazardous, if not fatal, to the service member. The ideal solution for the service member is a sensitive, selective, durable and lightweight badge with no external power requirement to provide an immediate visual indication of the presence of a hazard. In Phase I of this project, a prototype multi-sensor format badge was developed for this purpose. Using proprietary K&M technology, colorimetric chemistries were developed and tested for the detection of toxic industrial contaminants (TICs) of high or extreme priority listed in the USACHPPM TG 230A. TIC multi-sensor combinations were evaluated for cross-interferences and shelf-life stability. The second phase of this effort is directed toward assessment of the service-life stability in realistic field environments, modification of chemistries to eliminate false positive and false negative interferences, and evaluation of the performance of the multi-sensor arrays in the presence of potential field interferents.