Design and calibration of pulsed vapor generators for TNT, RDX and PETN.

摘要

Computer controlled explosive vapor generators for 2,4,6trinitrotoluene (TNT), cyclo-1,3,5-trimethylene-2,4,6-trinitramine (RDX) and pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) were built and calibrated to support an Independent Validation and Verification (IV&V) facility for Explosive Detection Systems (EDS) for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. The generators were constructed using pure explosive suspended on quartz beads which were then loaded into a stainless steel tube. The tube was coiled and placed into a temperature controlled chamber. A carrier gas (ultra-pure air) was passed through the coil to carry the explosive molecules. The generators are capable of delivering a pulse of varying explosive mass through the control of coil temperature, air flow rate, and pulse width. Preliminary calibrations have been completed in the picogram to nanogram range using an Ion Mobility Spectrometer (IMS) as the calibrating instrument. The explosive vapor generators will be used as quantitative vapor standards to establish the lower limit of detection for EDS systems at the IV&V.