High-Fidelity Explosive Simulant Production

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Transportation Security Laboratory have developed a portfolio of technologies for designing and manufacturing high-fidelity explosive simulants that enable accurate mimicry of both the microscopic and macroscopic properties of target explosives. A computer-assisted design system allows users to select target compounds and rapidly iterate to optimize simulant composition to match multiple properties simultaneously. Manufacturing methods provide guidance to produce a suite of simulants with the appropriate microscopic and macroscopic properties that encompass solids and liquids in a variety of formats, including textured and nontextured bulk explosives, flexural sheets, and powders. The portfolio covers X-ray and millimeter wave active simulants. DHS has developed an ASTM-WK85823 to pair with these technologies to ensure all simulants created are accurate for each application. The combined technologies vastly improve upon manual trial-and-error methods to facilitate more-rapid design and to manufacture more-accurate simulants at both the macroscopic and microscopic levels across a broader range of target explosives.

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