Objective

Enclosed vessels, such as U.S. Navy ships, are susceptible to the spread of contagions due to close quarters and shared ventilation. Contagions can be transmitted to different hosts via contaminated inanimate surfaces, such as plastics, metals, and glass. Disinfection of surfaces is critical for prevention and mitigation of viral and bacterial spread. In addition, there are many non-accessible areas on ships, such as overhead spaces, ventilation spaces, confined spaces, and densely packed piping that cannot be easily cleaned. With all cleaning methodology, choice and concentration of disinfectant is critical to performance. Disinfectant must be chosen to allow control of a broad range of microorganisms. In addition, manual cleaning is a reactive measure that is difficult to perform effectively aboard ship.

In enclosed, obstructed, and confined spaces onboard ships, manpower cost, availability, consumption of large volumes of cleaning supplies, and safe environmentally friendly disposal of waste materials can be prohibitive in cost, man hour commitment, and opportunity cost. Decontamination methods, such as fogging hydrocarbons or organic solvents, and commonly used liquid, commercial, off the shelf products, can be expensive, be unsafe for ship’s force use, have long wait times, require a large amount of hazardous material, and can lead to rampant mold and mildew growth due to residual solvent and hydrocarbon not being properly cleaned. Solvent and physical cleaning and remediation techniques are reactive measures once the spread of contagions has taken place. There is high value for proactive and passive long-term measures to reduce risk of contagion deposition on surfaces, transmission, and infection of Ship’s Force.

Technology Description

Conventional MIL-PRF-24596 and MIL-DTL-24607 interior coatings can contain halogens and solvents that can be detrimental to the environment. Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division (NSWCCD) is planning a three-year project to develop and demonstrate a non-halogenated, Oxsol-free, waterborne, antibacterial coating, with superior fire resistance compared to conventional MIL-PRF-24596 and MIL-DTL-24607 coatings. Demonstration of the effectiveness of the antibacterial coatings will take place in three concurrent/interdependent phases. Formulation and internal testing (Phase I) will be performed by Sherwin-Williams with NSWCCD and Naval Research Laboratory-South (NRL-SOUTH) providing technical readiness requirements. Laboratory testing (Phase II) for conformance to MIL-PRF-24596 performed by NSWCCD and antibacterial performance under representative conditions by NRL-SOUTH will focus on evaluating the prototype coating. Phase III will perform a ship demonstration in medical and/or high residence spaces.

Benefits

Success for this effort will result in the following deliverables: (Phase I) a novel formulation of antibacterial, environmentally friendly coating, (Phase II) internal Navy conformance testing and validation of antibacterial performance, (Phase III) specification revision with novel performance criteria for antibacterial coatings, (Phase IV) successful in-service demonstration of antibacterial coatings demonstrating conformance to MIL-PRF-234596, and (Phase V) creation of national stock number and implementation through technical manual revision and socialization with the fleet and Naval Sea Systems Command stakeholders. Successful demonstration of this material will increase the use of waterborne MIL-PRF-24596 coatings and reduce the use of MIL-DTL-24607 halogenated coatings.