Laboratory Evaluation of Commercial Coatings for Use by Soldiers in the Field to Lower Operating Temperatures of Collapsible Fuel Tanks

摘要

Collapsible fuel storage containers currently being used by the U.S. military in South West Asia for Operation Iraqi Freedom are encountering surface temperatures approaching 200 deg F. Consequently, these polyurethane- coated fabric fuel tanks are experiencing catastrophic failures at an alarming rate. The purpose of this work was to survey the market and obtain common off- the-shelf solar reflecting paints and determine the potential of these materials for use as a temperature-reducing coating that could be applied by a Soldier in the field to prolong the service life of coated fabric collapsible fuel tanks. From this study, two candidate coating materials, UG1 Thermoshield, manufactured by Uni-Glaze, and Evercoat 1025, produced by Everest Coatings, were selected and recommended by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory for future application to collapsible fuel tanks in the field for the purpose of prolonging the service life of these items by reducing their surface temperatures. The data presented herein show that these coatings can reduce the surface temperature by as much as 25 deg F to 30 deg F if used in the South West Asia environment.