A REAL-TIME HAZARDOUS CHEMICAL EMISSION RATE MONITORING INSTRUMENT

LEAKS OF HYPERGOLIC PROPELLANTS AS WELL AS OTHER HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS (E.G., AMONIA, CHLORINE, HYDROGEN FLUORIDE, AND HYDROGEN SULFIDE) CAN PRESENT SIGNIFICANT HAZARDS TO THE SAFETY OF CIVILIAN AND AIR FORCE PERSONNEL. IN THE CASE OF AN ACCIDENTAL RELEASE, THE TOXIC NATURE OF THESE MATERIALS REQUIRES THE ACCURATE KNOWLEDGE OF BOTH THE SOURCE AND DOWNWIND CONCENTRATIONS. THE GOAL OF THE PROPOSED WORK IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SENSITIVE, "REAL-TIME" MONITOR FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF EMISSIONS OF HYPERGOLIC AND HAZARDOUS CHEMICAL GASES AT BOTH THE SOURCE AND DOWNWIND LOCATIONS. THE SENSING TECHNIQUE IS BASED ON SURFACE ENHANCED RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY (SERS). THE SERS TECHNIQUE, WHICH CORRESPONDS TO THE VIBRATIONAL SPECTRUM OF A MOLECULAR ADSORBED ONTO SPECIFIC METAL OR METAL OXIDE SUBSTRATES, CAN BE USED FOR THE QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF NUMEROUS COMPONENTS IN GASEOUS ENVIRONMENTS. THE GOAL OF THE PHASE I PROGRAM IS TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF DEVELOPING A RELIABLE SENSOR BASED ON SERS FOR THE "REAL-TIME" DETECTION OF HYPERGOLIC AND HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS. THE DESIGN AND TESTING OF ACTUAL INSTRUMENTS WILL BE UNDERTAKEN IN PHASE II.