Abstract
We have developed a cost-effective and facile method to manufacture a pouch-type chemical vapor sampler. Originally, the sampler was developed by U. S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development, and Engineering Center(NSRDEC) to determine the protective capability of individual protective ensembles or Man-in-Simulant Test (MIST). They used a selectively permeable high density polyethylene(HDPE) as front membrane and aluminum/ Nylon barrier film as an impermeable back sheet in order to mimic the actual adsorption process that occurs when the skin is exposed to chemical weapons. However, it costs over twenty dollars per sampler and the minimum of quantity is 2500 per order. In addition, it is inconvenient to employ a variety of adsorbents into the sampler, which could prevent MIST researchers to do various tests for development of MIST methodologies. Here, we report the simple method to manufacture the sampler in a laboratory scale. All the materials we used are easily obtainable and inexpensive. In addition, all the procedures we perform are generally known. We used methyl salicylate(MeS) vapor to be adsorbed into the sampler and employed several different adsorbents to evaluate the performance of samplers. The results obtained by home-made samplers and commercially avaliable one showed no significant differences. Also, MeS vapor was selectively adsorbed into the sampler depending on adsorbents. We conclude that home-made samplers are capable of collecting any kind of chemical vapor for a variety of purposes.
