Production of Chemical Reagents for Prompt-Agent-Defeat Weapons

Nalas Engineering and Johns Hopkins University collaborated in a Phase I STTR program to study reactive mixtures of HI3O8 and nanocomposite fuels previously developed by the Weihs Group. These fuel/oxidizer mixtures are uniquely able to simultaneously produce heat and biocidal iodine gas, a combination designed to destroy biological weapons. The team at Nalas focused on evaluating conditions for preparing HI3O8 with control over the particle size distribution, while the Weihs Group focused on studying how these fuel/oxidizer mixtures behave in small-scale testing. The results of that Phase I program provide the foundation for developing conditions to prepare high-quality HI3O8 on the kilogram-scale to support ongoing testing, and to develop formulations of this fuel/oxidizer mixture that would be suitable for application to an end item in which this material would be set around an explosive charge. In the Phase II STTR , we will advance the development of these unique fuel/oxidizer materials to kilogram-scale production, formulation on the ten-gram scale, and testing of larger articles to facilitate down-selection to a material that can be carried forward for further development.