SBIR Phase I: Designer polyamide for acid neutralizing personal protective equipment

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to reduce hazardous acid-related injuries of workers who use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in mining, the military, first responder service, and other roles. Affected PPE surfaces can still contain the non-diluted acid which may come in contact with skin, leading to injury or disfigurement. This project proposes a new material for the surface of PPE to be chemically reactive so that it can neutralize the hazardous acid on contact. This material may be used as an additive to other materials for chemical suits, lab coats, gloves, secondary containment, and protective coatings. Moreover, this surface can be repeatedly reactivated, enabling sustainability. This SBIR Phase I project will advance translation of a solvent-less reactive extrusion. Currently available polymeric and the coatings on the materials that contain the acids act merely as chemically resistant passive barriers and are inadequate. The proposed project conducts a standardized set of experiments to optimize the temporal temperature profile, minimize undesired side reactions, and maximize the throughput. The technical plan includes determination of various parameters to tune product properties. Furthermore, it will be blended as an additive to incumbent PPE polymers to evaluate efficacy. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.