“Second Skin” Protects Soldiers from Chemical and Biological Agents

February 17, 2016

Dr. Paola D'Angelo at the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center, is working on second-skin, chemical-biological protection.

The U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center is working with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California at Santa Barbara, the Air Force Civil Engineering Center, and the U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center to develop second skin, the next generation of chemical-biological protection for the warfighter.

The second skin will be a protective “skin” engineered with textile materials as a substrate that will adapt to the soldier’s environment. The material is based on the use of responsive polymer gels, and will be able to sense chemical and biological agents, which will trigger a response within the gels. The second skin not only senses the chemical or biological agent, but it also has a protection component and a deactivation component.

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