Improved CP Gloves through Surface Grafting

Chemical warfare agents and the materials used to decontaminate them can have adverse effects on protective clothing worn by army personnel. The requirements on such protective gear are very stringent. Gloves in particular, must meet not only the protective barrier specifications, but at the same time allow the defense personnel to oeprate various equipment with sufficient dexterity. It appears that of the several protective glove materials that are available commercially, only butyl rubber gloves offer the best protection agains HD, GB and GD agents. However, butyl rubber's mechanical properties at the thicknesses used in CP gloves are not the most desirable. Materials that exhibit excellent mechanical properties such s silicone rubber, are found to be poor in terms of barrier properties. In this work, polymers with excellent barrier properties will be surface grafted as a thin layer onto a substrate with good mechanical properties. Several commercially available gloves will be surface grafted with the desirable polymers using two gas phase and a solution phase grafting techniques. The resulting grafts will be tested for their breakthrough times using appropriate simulants. Stress-strain curves will also be measured to monitor any changes in mechanical properties.