Some Candidate Replacement Materials for Dioctyl Phthalate in “Hot Smoke” Aerosol Penetrometer Machines

For many decades dioctyl phthalate (DOP), a common industrial material, has been used by the U.S. Army and other agencies to simulate aerosol behavior in nondestructive gas mask and filter serviceability testing, and for related test purposes. Techniques are completely standardized. But DOP is now considered to be a potentially hazardous material. The research reported here, which was performed using ATI Q-127 and TDA-100 “hot smoke” aerosol penetrometer test machines, identified relatively innocuous, inexpensive replacement materials for DOP. One of these, a synthetic hydrocarbon (poly-alpha olefin [PAO]), can be used to replace DOP directly with minimum impact upon existing hardware and procedures. Of more than two dozen candidate replacement materials that were tested, isostearic acid and oleic acid also performed well as DOP replacements. All three materials also show promise for cold smoke testing applications