Advanced System for Clothing Swatch Testing

The current methodology for testing the penetration resistance of textile materials to various chemical agents has a number of drawbacks, including significant uncertainties in the resulting data, inefficiency and expense, risk to test personnel, andlimited range of test conditions. The objective of the proposed work is to develop a new system for testing of these materials that remedies these problems by incorporating real-time sampling, automated sample changing and agent challenge, and precisecontrol of test conditions. In Phase I, key aspects of the system design will be developed and demonstrated using simulants. During Phase II, the full system will be developed and tested using live agent. The proposed swatch test system will dramaticallyimprove the accuracy and repeatability of penetration measurements as well as improve the throughput and range of test conditions and reduce the cost of the tests and personnel exposure to agents. It will provide immediate benefit to the large-scaletesting laboratories that serve defense and homeland security needs as well as offer improvements for research and development into improved protective materials.