Evaluation of chemical protective clothing: A comparative study of breakthrough times with sulphur mustard and a simulant, 1,3-dichloropropane

Carbon-coated non-woven fabrics were evaluated against vesicant sulphur mustard and 1,3-dichloropropane (DCP). Breakthrough times of these chemicals were compared and fitted in a linear equation. A correlation, better than 95 per cent was obtained. It is recommended that DCP be used in the evaluation and quality control of fabric in the chemical protective clothing manufacturing industries to reduce the exposure and risks of handling lethal chemicals. However, the clothing may be challenged with actual CW agents to determine their protective potentials, in the laboratory. Diffusion coefficients for DCP were also computed from the breakthrough data for carbon-coated fabric of different grades.