5 January 2012, Greer, SC Alexium has signed a new Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Airbase Technologies Division, to further develop and commercialize its patented and potentially disruptive Reactive Surface Treatment (RST) technology.

The agreement will leverage resources and capabilities of Alexium and the Tyndall AFB, Florida based AFRL and advance the effort of developing and transitioning products to the military and civilian markets.

Specifically, the collaboration is a joint effort that will explore the RST technology on a variety of materials, integrate nanoparticles developed by the Air Force in various RST treatment applications, and demonstrate a commercially feasible and scalable production process.

The outcome of the activity is expected to result in greater soldier protection from chemical and biological threats and improved materials used in military and commercial applications. Recent developments by Alexium have demonstrated significant improvements in RST liquid repellence treatments for chemical/biological protection applications.

The company's Cleanshell CB now offers even higher liquid repellence performance, tuned specifically to chemical warfare agent (CWA) simulants such as tributylphosphate (TBP).

According to Alexium, outer shell fabrics treated with Cleanshell CB protect the outer shell fabric from TBP penetration for days. This is said to be a significant improvement and industry step-change over conventional fluorocarbon repellence treatments, which offer only minutes of TBP protection.

Cleanshell CB repellence treatment is currently being evaluated at the Army's Natick Soldier Systems Center and Alexium expects to enter US Department of Defense tenders as proposals are invited.