Catalytic Self-Decontaminating Coatings

Equipment exposed to chemical or biological warfare agents must be decontaminated to allow its continued use while assuring the safety of personnel. Current decontamination systems either are corrosive or produce hazardous byproducts. A self-dominatingcoating that could deactivate the threat agents by a catalytic reaction would be an ideal solution. In Phase I TDA Research, Inc. (TDA) successfully demonstrated such a coating that neutralized a stimulant for mustard (agent HD) by a catalytic reaction atambient temperature, and also demonstrated activity against a stimulant for the biological warfare (BW) agent anthrax. To further improve the system, in Phase II TDA will prepare and evaluate additional catalysts and coatings to increase the rate of thedecontamination reaction, and also evaluate catalyst effectiveness against phosphonate nerve agents. Additional tests will include challenges with live chemical warfare agents and with stimulants for two BW agents. In Phase II we will verify that theself-contaminating coating can meet all other requirements of military vehicle coatings and carry out field test. An independent consultant will investigate health, and safety and environmental considerations associated with the coating, and an engineeringanalysis will estimate the cost of the coating system.