Evaporation of Chemical Warfare Agent HD on Glass Surface Under Various Environmental Conditions

Environmental fate of the chemical warfare agents (CWA) is receiving increasing attention, since the evaluation of the contact or vapor hazard is the critical input for models employed to support decisions to determine the individual as well as collective protection level of the combatants. Once released, CWA might evaporate and be carried by the wind, sorb into the surface material, or both. This can be a function of not only CWA, its dropsize and the surface substrate but also the environmental factors such as temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed. This work was carried out to establish a better understanding of the influence of each factor to the fate of CWA. Two different microbalances, configured in a wind-tunnel geometry, were employed to measure the weight loss of HD as a function of time glass surface under various environmental conditions. See also ADM001849. Presented at the Scientific Conference on Chemical and Biological Defense Research (2004) held in Hunt Valley, Maryland on 15-17 November 2004 The original document contains color images. Contains briefing charts only.