PREVENTION IS THE BEST DEFENSE
to be used as a tool early in the life cycle to help identify and access potential envi- ronmental regulatory risks during the development of new materials.
The TRND tool would compile data from both government and industry best practices to generate a report that can assist engineers, project manag- ers and other stakeholders in making informed, proactive decisions early in the life cycle process—allowing for poten- tial improvements to be identified and implemented—leading to reduction in a product’s overall environmental impact.
Another big issue, Copp said, is hexava- lent chromium, an industrially produced forever chemical used to protect Army vehicles, equipment and missile systems from corrosion; also known to cause cancer and other long-term health effects.
Te Army is pursuing a number of heavy metal mitigation and replacement projects beyond hexavalent chromium (see “Heavy Metal—Banned” in the Fall 2021 issue of AL&T). A European Union hexavalent chromium elimination (memo) in March 2022 was another major driver of TRND development. “We’re trying to get ahead of this,” she said. “TRND will be useful in two ways, since it’s retrospective, which is the easy part right now. But my team is also looking prospectively, and TRND has the ability to look at the current catalog.”
Te TRND workbook is broken down into two main interactive smart reports: Te TRND “end item” is a retrospective search used to identify what current items and sub-components are regulated. And the TRND “chemical” is a sheet that can be prospectively used as a forecasting tool in the design and product development
process. Currently, the tool is limited to chemical forecasting, but will expand to end items in the coming months.
“When you’re talking to the public or people who don’t have a chemistry back- ground, I feel like being able to link carcinogenic items, or something along those lines, with real world examples is really impactful,” she said. “So, I’ve been bringing in some data from the EPA as well.” This data includes information about chemical compositions, toxicity and the effects on drinking water, waste and wastewater.
Copp said with TRND, she’s ultimately trying to get in the ear of research engi- neers and say: “Hey, I want you to start thinking about environmental regulations and how they’re going to impact the mate- rial choices you make.” By linking up with Army materiel engineers, she is hoping to bridge gaps and provide them with a tool where they might consider alternate choices and might say “maybe I don’t want to use the next hexavalent chromium and replace it. Maybe there’s a green alterna- tive,” said Copp. “We want to steer the research hoping that we can use TRND to influence research for greener alternatives.”
AVOIDING REGRETTABLE SOLUTIONS Copp is taking a holistic approach from the “ground to the round,” she said, mean- ing from material in the ground to the end item, because everything that comes out of a gun is going to end up somewhere. So, she wants to build in a demilitarization thought process now, to avoid regrettable solutions later.
EXAMPLE WORKSHEET
A TRND worksheet mockup showing environmental regulations by chemical. (Graphic by Veronica Copp, DEVCOM AC)
“We’re trying to go about the development of these new energetic materials in a much more measured way that balances the safety of our warfighter mission goals but is also environmentally responsible.” And
20 Army AL&T Magazine Spring 2024
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