The detection and identification of explosives in the field typically involves resolving the explosives from a multicomponent mixture. For an IR spectrometer system, the measured absorbance signals have to be deconstructed into the constituent absorbances produced by each explosive. Methods of multicomponent analysis are shown to be relevant to the quantitative determination of explosives concentration down to a lower detectable limit. Techniques of precise sample introduction with a vapor generator for explosives are used to reduce the error in the multivariate calibrations of the system. The performance of the IR spectrometer system was assessed on its ability to measure the absorbance at one wavelength for determining the concentration of RDX. It was determined to be 50 picograms for a signal-to-noise ratio of approximately 4. The results demonstrate that the system needs to be more rigorously tested with different sample mixtures of explosives and other commonly occurring components for a better multidimensional calibration of the system.

Date Published: 28 March 1994
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 2092, Substance Detection Systems, (28 March 1994); doi: 10.1117/12.171260

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2092:
Substance Detection Systems
Geoffrey L. Harding; Richard C. Lanza; Lawrence J. Myers; Peter A. Young, Editor(s)