Enabling Material Technologies for National Security at SandiaDr. Mark Smith - Sandia National Labs. - Vice-President ASM International
Sandia was established to design non-nuclear components of weapons system in support of US Defense. Sandia has sites in Albuquerque NM, Livermore CA, Kauai HI, Tonapah NV, Pantex TX, and Yucca Mtn. NV.
The missions of Sandia include:
Defense Systems and Assessments
Nonproliferation
Homeland Security
Assisting former USSR with nuclear security issues.
An area of dramatic progress is in development of systems for air analysis (for detection of trace amounts of explosives or drugs) at security points.
An early development in this area was called "hound", which used an IMS (Ion mobility spectrometer) in conjunction with mass spectrometry to accomplish the detection. Demand for more numerous and more flexible check points lead to the need for much smaller and lighter using (the micro-hound). Sandia contributed to this by developing a 4" IMS drift tube. The complete unit is now about the size of an small pet carrier.
A related development is the micro Chem Lab. which is capable of looking for specific species of chemical using chromatography. The equivalent of a 1 meter chromatograph has been compressed into a small tube only 3/8" in diameter. The device uses two such tubes in alternation (collecting sample in one, while analyzing with the other). The field unit works also works with liquid samples. The next step of development will be the Chem-lab-on-a-chip. By going to a silicon-based detector a unit has been developed that can analyze anthrax in on tiny chip. Production techniques for this came as an outgrowth of microfabrication technologies like FIB (Focused Ion Beam) milling which together with traditional etch technology has been able to efficiently produce 5 level of structure (including mechanical components) on a silicon chip. An early demonstration of this was a moving carrousel for a dust mite.
Another area of interest in the capability to remotely perform chemical analysis of thing like smoke from explosions on the battlefield, stack effluents, or burning buildings. This is also enabled by a MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System) Polychromator. The principle is to bounce light on a programmable diffraction grating (the MEMS component). By coordinating the diffracted results with the programmed intervals the devise can determine what is contained in the remote dust cloud.
Silicon is limited in application and life because of its absorption of water. Sandia has now developed techniques to make diamond based (as opposed to silicon based) micro machines. Diamond has the advantage of superior wear resistance, resistance to stickiness and friction, is chemically benign, and is also biocompatible that could lead to a host of in-body medical applications. A successful comb drive for a micro piston has been produced using amorphous diamond MEMS technology.
Synthetic Aperture Radar is a computer process for electronically stitching radar echoes into dramatic, detailed, images. This technology combines range and azimuth information of the series of received radar echoes. The term "synthetic" comes from the fact that the flight path of an aircraft is used to synthesize what would otherwise be and extremely long antenna requirement. SAR systems are advantageous in that images can be obtained at night and through clouds. Items as small as a human footprint have been resolved from heights as great as 10000 ft.
3-D direct write conformal electronics technique have been applied to such projects as putting GPS (global positioning systems) with display into military helmets.
A material was developed which is a surfactant/oxidizer capable of cleaning up anthrax and controlling mold.
To deal with old chemical weapons (stored in decaying containers at various sites in the country) the lab has developed a portable system capable of safely pyrolizing these items.
To deal with bomb threats, the lab has developed technology to take out the firing circuit for the device, without exploding the device (which destroys the evidence).
. Finally Sandia has been working in the area of Health Monitoring, by developing computer systems with can look at tremendous amounts of data (from insurance claims, routine lab tests, etc.) to spot patterns and identify potential pandemics without the need for added examinations or recordkeeping by doctors and veterinarians. The idea is to use the huge amount available information (in our digital age) efficiently.