SERDP FY 2024 New Start Projects
Environmental Restoration (ER) Program Area
The objective of this Statement of Need (SON) was to develop and scale environmentally-friendly textile coatings and/or modified fibers that provide both hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties to repel water, oils and other chemicals of concern without the use of PFAS. In order to replace or compete with current PFAS textile coatings, new technologies had to be:
- Omniphobic: Able to repel both hydrophilic and hydrophobic liquids, including water, oils, and toxic chemicals;
- Scaleable: Able to scale manufacture to treat full textile rolls or garments;
- Aqueous-based: Able to meet strict textile manufacturing limitations on flammable solvent use;
- Material independent: Able to function on multiple textile types such as mixtures of natural, synthetic, stretch, and non-stretch fibers;
Program managers, installations, and Warfighters across all military services would benefit from uninterrupted availability of PFAS-free high-performance textiles for use in uniforms, shelters, tenting and miscellaneous fabrics.
The projects listed below were selected to address the objectives of this SON. Additional information on individual projects can be found by clicking the project title.
- PFAS Free, Sustainable, Superhydrophobic/Omniphobic Coatings for Textile Applications
- Lead Investigator: Joey Mead, University of Massachusetts, Lowell
- Omniphobic Surfaces by Engineering Coatings with Nanomaterials to Control Microscale Topology– Limited Scope Proposal
- Lead Investigator: Jeffery Owens, Air Force Civil Engineer Center
- Design Lignin-based and Fluorocarbon-free Omniphobic Textile Coatings
- Lead Investigator: Arthur Ragauskas, University of Tennessee