Final CRADA Report: Evaluation of Trace Particle Removal Techniques for Enhanced Detection of Explosives in Air Cargo

Technical Report · Wed May 12 04:00:00 EDT 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/981855· OSTI ID:981855

This report describes the procedures used and the test results obtained at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), to determine the ability of thermal and mechanical (vibration and airflow) methods to remove/harvest trace explosives from various material substrate surfaces relevant to air cargo. As part of the Battelle Memorial Institute’s (BMI) Air Cargo Screening (ACS) Initiative, INL conducted mechanical and thermal/mechanical removal tests using three different military explosives: C-4(RDX), cast TNT, and SEMTEX (PETN, 76% and RDX, 4.6%) on two substrate materials relevant to air cargo: metal and cardboard. This work leveraged similar experiments using homemade explosives (HME) which were funded by the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate (DHS S&T). The DHS S&T tests involved evaluating the removal efficiencies of thermal and mechanical methods for four different HME: Ammonium Nitrate prills (AN, explosive grade), Guanidine Nitrate (GN, 98% pure in Methanol), Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP, 99.5% pure in Acetonitrile), and Hexamethylene Triperoxide Diamine (HMTD, 98.4% pure in Acetonitrile). Substrate materials used for the HME removal tests included metal, cotton, canvas, leather, shrink wrap, cardboard, and vinyl. This report documents the procedures that were used during the testing as well as the test results and recommendations for future Air Cargo Screening applications.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Laboratory (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 981855
• Report Number(s): INL/CRADA-07-18
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English