Explosive Contamination from Substrate Surfaces: Differences and Similarities in Contamination Techniques using RDX and C-4

Journal Article · Tue Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Sensing and Imaging: An International Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s11220-010-0053-y· OSTI ID:978347

Miller, C J; Yoder, T S

The amount of time that an explosive is present on the surface of a material is dependent upon the original amount of explosive on the surface, temperature, humidity, rain, etc. This laboratory study focused on looking at similarities and differences in three different surface contamination techniques that are used when performance testing explosive trace detection equipment in an attempt to determine how effective the techniques are at replicating actual field samples. The three techniques used were dry transfer deposition of solutions using the Transportation Security Laboratory (TSL) patented dry transfer techniques (US patent 6470730), direct deposition of explosive standards, and fingerprinting of actual explosives. Explosives were deposited on the surface of one of five substrates using one of the three different deposition techniques. The process was repeated for each surface type using each contamination technique. The surface types used were: 50% cotton/50% polyester as found in T-shirts, 100% cotton with a smooth surface such as that found in a cotton dress shirt, 100% cotton on a rough surface such as that found on canvas or denim, suede leather such as might be found on jackets, purses, or shoes, and metal obtained from a car hood at a junk yard. The samples were not pre-cleaned prior to testing and contained sizing agents, and in the case of the metal, oil and dirt. The substrates were photographed using a Zeiss Discover V12 stereoscope with Axiocam ICc1 3 megapixel digital camera to determine the difference in the crystalline structure and surface contamination in an attempt to determine differences and similarities associated with current contamination techniques.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 978347
• Report Number(s): INL/JOU-09-15436; TRN: US201010%%52
• Journal Information: Sensing and Imaging: An International Journal, Vol. 11, Issue 2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
AUTOMOBILES
CAMERAS
CLOTHING
CONTAMINATION
COTTON
DEPOSITION
DETECTION
EXPLOSIVES
HUMIDITY
LEATHER
PERFORMANCE TESTING
POLYESTERS
RAIN
SECURITY
SIZE
SUBSTRATES
SURFACE CONTAMINATION
TESTING
TNT
explosives
fingerprints
materials substrates
PETN
RDX
Semtex