LUNA INNOVATIONS INCORPORATED — Department of Defense SBIR Phase II: CBD203-001

Description

The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction presents a serious security threat to U.S. and allied personnel around the world. Military warfighters and first responders must be prepared to operate under a wide range of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) environments while having the capacity to rapidly respond to these potential threats. CBRN protective gloves offer a first line of defense for personnel to perform tasks in high-risk environments. While current CBRN gloves offer excellent durability and protection from CBRN threats, they are also bulky, resulting in poor dexterity and elevated thermal burden. As such, the tactility of these gloves must be improved to ensure optimal utility during the assessment, extrication, rescue, decontamination, and treatment at sites where CBRN terrorism agents (both liquid and vapor) may have been deployed. Furthermore, with the increased prevalence of capacitive-based touch screen systems, the current butyl CBRN gloves are lacking in touch screen capability. Thus, there is a need for novel barrier glove materials that offer improved dexterity, comfort, and touch screen compatibility without compromising on protection from chemical warfare agents and toxic industrial chemicals. Luna has developed an elastomeric chemically resistant glove material with improved dexterity and touch screen capability compared with current gloves. In Phase II, Luna will finalize a formulation with optimal chemical resistance and mechanical properties and scale the material production to demonstrate economic viability. Luna has teamed with established glove experts to develop practical manufacturing methods that can be easily transitioned to production. Full scale prototypes will be produced for independent evaluation by our partners and military personnel to assess user acceptability.