Variation in the headspace of bulk hexamethylene triperoxide diamine (HMTD): Part II. Analysis of non-detonable canine training aids

Abstract

Detection canines are a major source of protection against the powerful peroxide explosive hexamethylene triperoxide diamine (HMTD), as well as other homemade explosives (HMEs). However, HMTD is an extremely unstable molecule, which makes it difficult to safely obtain and use for the purposes of canine training and testing. To address this challenge, several non-detonable canine training aids have been designed for canine training. Bulk HMTD has a complex headspace, as shown by previous studies. This makes it a difficult odor to mimic and, in turn, makes evaluations and comparison of such training aids essential. In this work, five non-detonable HMTD canine training aids that are either commercially available or under development were evaluated with the goal of determining which most accurately represents the headspace of bulk HMTD. Of the five training aids, two were observed to reasonably mimic HMTD. While the remaining three training aids contained similar headspace components as HMTD, they did not exhibit the complexity of the bulk compound headspace. While none of the tested training aids exactly mirrored the bulk HMTD samples, they may have use in maintenance training when no bulk material is available.