The Problem: In a blast or flash fire scenario, the exposed skin of the respondent is traumatized by the onslaught of irradiative heat emitted from the blast as well as the open flames which ensue. Current camouflage cosmetic products in use by the United States military and their allies do not protect the skin from such situations and in some cases can serve as an accelerant. In a typical blast situation the thermal flux lasts anywhere from 4-6 seconds and the time it takes the human skin to suffer a second degree burn is merely 2 seconds. As such, we sought to develop a product which would protect the exposed skin of our personnel a minimum of 4-6 seconds.
The Solution: Testing of our prototype product indicates that we have succeeded in doing so while also resulting in a cosmetic coating that resists sweat and moisture, transfer, is not occlusive to the pores of the skin, applies with an even smooth feel and is easily removed. This product currently uses all FDA approved cosmetic ingredients and is available in the current MIL-DIL-32000 colors of white, black, green and loam in DEET and non-DEET versions. For first responders or other agencies/individuals desiring the same protection without the camouflage shades, we have other shades available.
Thermal performance of our product is gauged with various techniques including Thermal Gravimetric Analysis with ballistic heating and cone calorimetry as well as two custom tests,
flame torch testing and
quartz lamp emitter testing which are designed to emulate real world heat and fire scenarios. The flame torch test requires that the product be coated evenly across an aluminum substrate to which a thermocouple is mounted. A MAPP Pro torch is inverted six inches from the surface of the coated substrate and is used to expose the product to open flame. This test is video recorded and a frame by frame analysis results in a time vs. temperature display of our product’s performance shown below in Figure 1.
Figure 1 Time vs. temperature depicting prototype response to open flame
Quartz lamp emitter testing is conducted using a Pyrocal sensor designed to mimic the heat resistivity of human skin. The quartz lamp emitters are heated to 1400°C and the sensor is coated with our product prior to exposure. The temperatures reported by the sensor are recorded and the data is depicted as a time vs. temperature chart, Figure 2.
Figure 2 Time vs. temperature depiction of prototype response to quartz lamp exposure
As demonstrated above, SciGenesis has successfully surpassed the benchmark requirements of 4-6 seconds of protection from a second degree burn. This product is in the late stages of R&D development and is anticipated to be ready for market launch in 2012.
Status: In user acceptance testing with US Army. SciGenesis is interested in aligning with marketing partners to supply this to commercial and military markets around the world. Interested? Call Kelli Booth at 601.818.0612.
