The Fabric of Protection

Winds of change for personal protection suits. JSLIST competition expected to highlight array of technologies.

Ten companies are competing to provide alternate sources of supply for the Joint Service Lightweight Integrated Suit Technology (JSLIST) overgarment (shell) and liner material. The material and design solutions offered by these vendors may also provide cooler and lighter weight chemical-biological (chem/bio) uniforms—without compromising the equipment’s protection capability.

Competition Sought

Approximately 5.4 million JSLIST suits have been manufactured since the program’s inception in 1997. The JSLIST, manufactured by a number of different contractors using Saratoga fabric produced by Tex-Shield is the sole chemical protective overgarment authorized by DoD. The knock against this uniform item is that its spherical carbon adsorbers are of foreign origin. This raised a yellow flag of caution on Capitol Hill which reasoned that individual chem/bio uniform production may be at risk if there was an interruption to the supply of carbon beads. Since then, a new Saratoga spherical activated carbon adsorber production plant has been built in the U.S. to eliminate that concern.

Prior to the construction of the new plant U.S., in an attempt determine whether any alternative sources could meet DoD requirements and potentially reduce the life-cycle cost of the JSLIST material, the JSLIST Alternative Source Qualification II (JASQ II) program was launched to test and evaluate other chem/bio protective materials.

“Ten companies are involved in the JASQ and field testing,” revealed an Army source at Joint Project Manager-Individual Protection (JPMIP) office. The office was unable to furnish the competitors’ names for proprietary reasons. The competition’s field testing was scheduled to begin in February 2006.

Competitors are expected to display an array of current and evolving fabric and textile technologies, including some described below, for the next generation individual protective equipment.

Strategies

A number of companies use activated charcoal in their chem/bio uniforms.

Tex-Shield’s Saratoga system uses activated carbon spherical adsorbers to rapidly and firmly bind molecules of harmful agents. Adsorption is the binding of molecules or particles to a surface, which is distinguished from absorption—the filling of pores in a solid.

In the Tex-Shield application, the spherical adsorbers are attached to fabric so that a small percentage of the sphere’s surface is in contact with the fabric’s adhesive. This provides maximum available surface area and adsorptive capacity, and a high level of air permeability for cooling. The JSLIST material system provides superior liquid, vapor and aerosol protection. Its ability to provide this protection even after 45 days of field wear and six launderings has been confirmed in three different operational field wear trials to date.

A second company, LANX, noted that its Modified Type 1 Fabric’s adsorption technology is based on polymerically encapsulated activated carbon, which provides a high degree of uniform carbon distribution and chemical protection. A polymer is a large organic molecule formed by combining many small molecules in a regular pattern.

“The advantage of this system is more of the carbon is available for adsorption and other capabilities,” said Randy Lofland, company spokesman. The company’s Modified Type 1 Fabric is available for use as a lightweight hung liner in the CPO, and it also can be tailored into any overgarment design and manufactured in varying weights, offering different degrees of chemical protection. The fabric can be combined with a multitude of shell fabrics including nylon, cotton, NYCO and aramids to provide liquid, vapor and aerosol protection, as well as flame resistance, if required.

In January 2006, an international consortium comprised of the German company Kärcher Futuretech and its Canadian partners Lincoln Fabrics Ltd. and Pacific Safety Products Inc. announced that it has delivered about 15,000 Safeguard 3002-A1 protective suits to the Canadian Army. While the companies may not be in the JSLIST competition, they plan to field an additional 30,000 to the Canadian service by mid-2007.

The Safeguard 3002-A1 functional principle consists of a multilayer fabric compound with an integrated activated carbon layer. The suit reportedly provides outstanding protection against nuclear, biological and chemical threats, and thermal effects, and provides unique aerosol protection.

Gentex Corporation’s three Lifetex fabrics are featured in several products for military personnel. CD 2010 and CD 2560 feature an inner fabric layer impregnated with Gentex carbon beads. The absorptive layer is comprised of a patented carbon-bead adsorbent tailored specifically for chemical and biological protection as specified by military requirements. CD 3030 features a unique inner layer possessing similar adsorbent properties.

Gentex’s Rampart overgarment is a two-piece system comprised of a coat and trousers designed to be worn as a duty uniform. The overgarments are comprised of the CD 2560 fabric, which includes an outer laminated layer of 50 percent cotton/50 percent nylon woven rip stop fabric with a Quarpel oil and water resistant finish. The system meets performance requirements similar to those required in the JSLIST program. Overall, wearers are offered protection against all known chemical and biological agents in a system that is lightweight, launderable and permeable to provide the lowest possible level of heat stress for a system of its type.

Beyond Charcoal

Industry is also eyeing nanotechnology to serve as adsorbers, support lighter-weight fabrics, and promote other improvements. This science seeks to create and use materials at the atomic level, and exploit unique properties of matter in textiles, fabrics and other applications.

ESpin Technologies is one of the first commercial producers of nanofibers. The company is able to produce minute fibers which are 10-to-100 times smaller in diameter than what is possible with conventional textile technology. As another frame of reference, eSpin’s fibers are about 1,000 times smaller than a human hair.

Dupont’s TYVEK F material is manufactured by laminating the basic TYVEK flash-spunbonded polyethylene material to a barrier film which is coated with polymer. The application is used in the company’s TYVEK coveralls, which are designed for protection against chem/bio agents.

W.L. Gore’s strategy for its Gore CHEMPAK Selectively Permeable Fabric is advertised to resist the permeation of chemical and biological Tex Shield Suit (Tex Shield photo] agents, while allowing the high permeation of water vapor, through the use of a chemical protective polymer that has been combined with an expanded PTFE Gore membrane.

Outside the lifelines of the JASQ process, competition remains keen to supply other chem-bio uniform items, including chemical protective undergarments (CPUs) and gloves.

CPUs

Tex-Shield produces a CPU using its Saratoga spherical activated carbon adsorber technology, which consistently has proven to provide superior performance in chem/bio protection applications. Saratoga CPUs are used in numerous countries around the world.

LANX’s CPU is advertised to provide vapor and aerosol protection. The company’s Type 1 fabric is used to make the undergarment which comes in three configurations, noted Randy Lofland, its spokesman. The standard model is used by SOF, armor crews and other servicemembers, a second variant (with no collar) for naval aviators, and a third model for Army aviators.

Gentex’s CPU is part of its ensemble which includes a one- or twopiece undergarment, hood and socks. The undergarment is designed for wear under a duty uniform, and is recommended for aviators and others for whom vapor protection is required. This CPU has a flameresistant laminate with a cotton-knit, inner layer for comfort. A lighterweight version available and is advertised to meet all NATO standards. The one-piece CPU is in service with the Norwegian Air Force and other organizations.

Gloves

Gentex’s chemical defense protective gloves are an alternative to the system currently in use for pilots. The system replaces the cotton inner glove, the butyl glove and the Nomex flight glove with a single glove. The gloves are made from a three-layer laminate—a nylon tricot knit fabric forms the skin-side layer protecting an inner layer impregnated with activated carbon which is then protected on the outside by a PBI/Nomex tricot knit— Lifetex CD 3030.

AirBoss-Defense, in collaboration with the Canadian Army, developed the AirBoss CBRN molded glove, which was created in part using computeraided design techniques, Patrice Meloche, company market development manager, told MMT.

The glove is advertised to provide more than 24-hours protection against chemical and biological warfare agents. Its long wrist assures proper closure and integration with the arm and cuff of a CBR suit. This capability addresses one key need identified by JPEO-CBD to integrate individual protective equipment seamlessly at the closures—wrists, ankles and other junctions. The CBRN glove is used in Canada, Greece, the United Kingdom and the U.S.

Tex-Shield also produces Saratoga chem/bio protective gloves for numerous users in the U.S. and around the world. ♦

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