The Department of Defense (DoD) uses a variety of textile materials for individual and collective protection of personnel and equipment from the weather and man-made conditions.  Specifically, cotton webbing is used for fabricating numerous military items including tents, parachutes, back packs and truck covers. Bio-corrosion caused by mildew and other microorganisms is a constant threat for these materials; therefore, preservatives are used which provide biocidal and ultraviolet (UV) degradation protection and extend the life of these items.

This presentation describes the final phase of a validation study on an alternative coating, RO-59-WP, as a replacement to Copper 8 quinolinolate (Copper 8). Copper 8 is currently being used to prevent biocorrosion; however, this treatment has been taken off the market several times due to environmental concerns. In this work, the effectiveness of the treatment was evaluated through both chemical analysis techniques and standard soil burial testing. The coating procedure was then modified to achieve target coating quantity of the preservative, considering manufacturing constraints.  Factors including solution concentration, processing temperatures, solution properties, and host material properties were investigated.

This research was conducted under NSRDEC’s 6.4 program, and is funded thru the Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD) and the Army Materiel Command (AMC).