American Energy Technologies Co., a woman-owned small business concern of Illinois, will partner with Georgia Institute of Technology of Atlanta, GA and Clemson University of South Carolina in order to develop and qualify a matrix of conformant clad coatings for outer garments of rubberized dry suits used by free swimming Special Operations Forces Divers. The principle constituents of these exterior coatings will be hard hydrophobic lightweight granules ranging in size +100 mesh (min) to ¼ (max), with a bulk density in the range of 1.85 to 2.25 g/cc. The coatings will be flexible, durable, and will provide for near maximum levels of laceration and puncture protection as specified in ASTM F1790 and ASTM F1342, respectively. These coatings will also have adequate abrasion resistance, will feature deep opaque green to dull gray disguise coloring thus helping make SOFDs near invisible during operations in shallow waters. The coatings are also expected to have appreciable ballistic protection properties at the threat level of at least type IIA per NIJ Standard0101.06.
Benefits: Coatings being proposed will be clad as an external layer to existing dry suits of special operations divers. These coatings will help improve current suit technology by serving multiple purposes including: (1) protection of divers from marine-borne sharp object threats (stinging marine life, coral, rock, shark, etc.), (2) passive protection from personnel threats (knife, spear in the water and light bullet on the surface), (3) disguise divers from visibility by naked eye during operations in shallow waters, (4) will add some weight to the dry suit thus permitting easier (e.g. faster) ingress of divers into the water, and (5) will help reduce exchange of heat between divers body and the ambient environment (a pro for missions in cold and too warm water). If/when successfully commercialized into the dry suits for shallow water operations, the next logical segue of the proposed coating technology would be into the deep-sea free swimming scuba costumes. Outside of SOCOM, the applications may include puncture resistant coatings for US Coast Guard, gloves for TSA passenger security screening personnel at the airports and on other checkpoints (DHS). Civilian wear-resistant applications include protection of moving or impacted parts of industrial equipment such as chutes / hoppers, exhaust fan blades and housing, nozzles, cyclone separators, etc.
Keywords: Conformant Clad Coatings, Dry Suit, Diver, Puncture Protection, Cut Protection, Abrasion Protection, Disguise, Super Hard Materials
