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Non-Lethal Applicants of Slippery Substances
1
Non-Lethal Applicants of Slippery Substances
By
Ronald J. Mathis
William A. Mallow
Dr. Robert L. Mason
Southwest Research Institute
And
Dr. Kenneth R. Collins
U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center
U.S. Forces are being tasked to conduct peacekeeping operations that may involve
potential combatants, riotous crowds, or demonstrators protesting an event or situation. These
operations may occur in an urban or rural area, municipality, or a third world country.
Regardless of the location, terrain or environment, the soldier must be prepared and equipped to
respond as necessary, to the level of intensity. A segment of that operation requires Marine Air-
Ground Task Force and subordinate units to conduct various missions in Military Operations
Other Than War (MOOTW). The Mission Need Statement (MNS) for an operational capability
of U.S. Forces requires the tactical flexibility of employing a non-lethal weapon capability to
conduct these operations. Furthermore, the MNS has identified a slippery or anti-traction
material as a mobility denial system for personnel, vehicles, or aircraft. The requirements for a
mobility denial system relate to all Department of Defense (DOD) components, and may have
applicability to other Federal Government and local law enforcement agencies.
Background
The use of very low friction surface coatings has been suggested as useful as a method
for disabling vehicles or controlling crowd movement. Despite popular perception, this concept
is not new to military operational consideration - a significant history of experimentation dating
back to the Korean War has been compiled previously (S. Scott, T. Goolsby, K. Collins and G.
Goldsmith. "Dispensed Materials for Non-Lethal Operations". Third NDIA Conference on
Non-Lethal Warfare, 1998).
The most recent experience with the military use of this concept began as a U.S. Army
effort at Edgewood Chemical Biological Command (ECBC) in 1996. This project intentionally
limited material screening to binary, water-activated polymers as low friction coatings. The
chemical composition of materials considered at that time was further limited to polyacrylimide
and polyacrylic acid-based substances, due to the very low risk of health or environmental
hazard. Over two dozen commercially available polymer materials were qualitatively compared
during this project, resulting in the selection of water mixtures with either Agefloc WT 603 (CPS
Chemical) or various Percol powders (Allied Colliods) for further consideration. Subsequent
field demonstrations performed in 1997 with these materials were successful in restricting
vehicle and personnel mobility.
Despite the successful demonstration of the technology, problems remained with the
logistic implications of the application. By 1998, advice from USMC personnel suggested that
material improvements with the required quantities and dissemination methods were necessary. 2
Furthermore, the binary nature of the proposed coating implied that the water component was to
be foraged from indigenous sources - a conditional dependence that may not always be met
under all operational scenarios. An expansion of the classes of materials to be considered was
therefore necessary, initiating the inclusion of Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) to this project
in early 1999. At this point, the USMC MARCORSYSCOM formally adapted the program
management of this development effort, acting as the lead agency for the JNLWD.
Currently, SwRI is under contract with the DOD to provide the support services in
regards to the technical assessment of the capabilities and technologies currently available for an
anti-traction material to meet the military's requirements. The work being performed consists of
a sequence of tasks to systematically identify the military's requirements, review past efforts,
perform a market survey of candidate materials, and perform a limited laboratory assessment of
potential anti-traction materials to assess their operational characteristics. The contents of this
presentation will summarize the activities to date and present the proposed approach for
assessing candidate anti-traction materials.
Military Applications and Material Requirements
The application requirements define those scenarios of where, when, and how an anti-
traction material would be employed. The material requirements represent the military's
envisioned physical characteristics, properties, and performance criteria inherent for an anti-
traction material. Identifying both the application and material requirements then provides the
criterion for assessing candidate anti-traction material. Southwest Research Institute technical
personnel met with military and civilian representatives cognizant of DOD's past and current
anti-traction material programs and knowledgeable of the objectives when implementing an anti-
traction material. The results of the meeting identified those requirements and application
scenarios that could be used to select and evaluate candidate anti-traction materials.
To categorize the applicability of candidate materials, a classification criterion of
mandatory, preferred, and preferred plus were established and applied to each of the military's
requirements. That is, a defined minimum level of acceptability, an expected capability and an
idealized performance level for an anti-traction material became necessary to differentiate
candidate materials. In most cases, a material will be bound on the low end by the mandatory
criteria, and a rough estimate of performance will be made on the high end. The preferred
criteria will be expressed as a performance objective that describes the tactical environment and
rationale for the performance measurement.
Tables 1 and 2 summarize the applications and material requirements generated by DOD
personnel and the anti-traction material's classification for the various elements. The
considerations presented in Tables 1 and 2 represent guidelines for defining the physical
requirements and selection of anti-traction materials. The different elements associated with
application requirements such as target, surface, dispensing method, etc., are considered to be
broad based and encompassing. Foot traffic for example, would include pedestrians having no
footwear, wearing civilian shoes, or personnel wearing military boots. 3
Table 1. Application Requirements
Material
Classification
Target Sets / Surface Type
Dispensing
System
Environment
Area
Coverage
Level Surface
Sloping Surface
Concrete
Walkways & Roads
Mandatory
Foot Traffic
Asphalt
Compact Soil
Manual
(man portable)
40
°
to 100
°
F
800 sq. ft.
Vegetated and
Loose Soil
Preferred
Wheel Vehicles
Non-Porous
Mechanical
(vehicle mount)
32
°
to 120
°
F
1,200 sq. ft.
Preferred Plus Track Vehicles
Aircraft
Concrete, Asphalt
Compact Soil
Aircraft
<32
°
to 120
°
F
1,500 sq. ft.
Table 2. Material Requirements
Material
Classification
Form
Activation
Deactivation
Application
Time
Availability Durability
Mandatory
As Available
As Required
Removable
1-hour
COTS
2 hours
Preferred
Single
Component
Ready-to-Use
Biodegradable
10 30 minutes COTS / MOTS 24 hours
Preferred Plus
Multiple
Component or
Single Sheet
Water
Humidity
Chemically
Reversible
5minutes or less
Formulation
Several
days
Identification of Anti-Traction Technologies
Southwest Research Institute was tasked to identify and investigate all appropriate anti-
traction technologies and to determine the specific qualitative and quantitative measurements for
each material or solution identified to meet the applications and requirements of Tables 1 and 2.
The starting point for identification of anti-traction materials was DOD's and SwRI's a priori
knowledge and experience in this area with materials typically used to reduce friction.
To minimize the selection of anti-traction materials to a workable choice of candidates,
SwRI integrated the military's objectives with the technical requirements for anti-traction
materials. The combination of these two elements defines the physical properties and
characteristics for a material to be considered as a candidate anti-traction material with the
military's requirement to accomplish a specific objective.
Anti-traction materials are dependent upon meeting both the military's applications and
material requirements plus certain physical parameters that will enable the material to function as
an anti-traction media. SwRI combined the required material parameters with the military's 4
requirements to produce a list of parameters for evaluating candidate material. These
parameters, as indicated in Table 3, when combined with the military's requirements presented in
Tables 1 and 2, produced a list of 16 criteria for assessing candidate anti-traction material. The
material assessment parameters represent a combination of material requirements, application
considerations, environmental concerns, physical characteristics, and cost considerations.
Table 3. Material Assessment Parameters
Material Properties Performance Characteristics
Economic Factors
Ecology
Activation
Availability
Temperature Range
Coverage
Cost
Toxicity
Deactivation
Composition
Viscosity
Dispensability
Storage
Durability
Effectiveness
Surface
Target
The criteria for the material assessment parameters, as defined for this study, are:
1.

Ecology: The effect