CARBON COPY
Te more expensive path turned out to be the only path, and the center collaborated with ACCE, JPEO-CBRND and U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) to secure funding for the center to perform a year-long study.
EARTH ESSENTIALS
Only 0.025 percent of the earth’s crust contains carbon, yet it is integral to all plant and animal life on the planet. (Photo courtesy of Molecular Products, Inc.)
same way. A more comprehensive qualification standard would be needed to make sure all DOD specifications were met. Te center formed a multi-disciplinary team of its in-house experts that worked overtime to meet a strict DOD deadline to develop a better standard. Te result was the classified MIL-DTL-32101B.
While this was a significant accomplishment, it was clear that further improvements to the specification were required to confidently qualify new carbon suppliers. Te updated speci- fication was more comprehensive, but it still relied heavily on limited historical data points. Te team needed to get up-to- date data through current live agent tests. But that would take more funding.
Te center persuaded the Title III Office carbon-filter team that, because protective carbon is a life-supporting material, it was vital to base the standard on current testing. Te standard also had to be expanded to include chemical threats that have emerged since 1992. In addition, the center needed to calculate the shelf life of protective carbon material under tropical, desert and arctic condi- tions using the latest testing equipment, which the center has.
Te alternative—relying on old, less comprehensive data—would not have qualified the new supplier with enough confidence that the carbon could adequately protect warfighters on the modern battlefield without up-to-date real-world testing. Adding to the necessity of this was the fact that Calgon decided to create a second production line, which, as with any additional production line in any industry, is not entirely identical to the earlier version.
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TEAM OF EXPERTS Te center’s interdisciplinary team performed the necessary test- ing and established a current data set over the course of 2018. In 2019, they started updating the specifications for MIL-DTL- 32101B using this new trove of data. Te architect for all this was Ryan Bearekman, the center’s program manager for the effort. “Te work spanned a lot of areas and disciplines,” said Bearek- man. “We needed chemists who could design and perform tests to challenge the carbon using a wide range of live chemical agents. And we needed people trained in how to stress the carbon in our unique environmental chambers that simulate arctic, desert and tropical conditions.”
Bearekman also needed engineers who understood the supply chain and experts in quality control and quality assurance of materials. He got both from the center’s Rock Island, Illinois, research campus. “Te Sustainment Engineering Protection Branch provided the experts who were the real authors and archi- tects of MIL-DTL-32101B. Tey have been working on military specifications for decades and knew exactly how to codify them so that they would be understandable to all.” Bearekman said.
CARBON COMPOSITION
The pore structure inside activated carbon is so complex that one gram has a surface area of greater than 1,000 square meters. (Photo courtesy of Molecular Products, Inc.)
Army AL&T Magazine
Spring 2022
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