Filtration performances of non-medical materials as candidates for manufacturing facemasks and respirators
Filtration performances of non-medical materials as candidates for manufacturing facemasks and respirators
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DOI：
10.1016/j.ijheh.2020.113582
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发表时间：
2020-08-01
影响因子：
6
通讯作者：
Wang, Yang
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Hao, Weixing;Parasch, Andrew;Wang, Yang
最近爆发的冠状病毒病（COVID-19）正在导致世界各国个人防护装备（PPE）短缺。由于冠状病毒可以通过飞沫和气溶胶传播，因此迫切需要需要复杂认证的口罩和 N95 呼吸器。鉴于这种情况，美国疾病控制与预防中心 (CDC) 建议“在没有口罩的情况下，医护人员可以使用自制口罩（例如头巾、围巾）来护理 COVID-19 患者，作为最后的手段。”尽管可以通过一系列过滤机制通过织物的纤维去除气溶胶和液滴，但它们的过滤性能尚未得到详细评估。此外，市场上还有一系列非医用材料，例如家用空气过滤器、咖啡过滤器和不同类型的织物，在没有口罩和呼吸器的情况下，这些材料可能会很有用。在这项研究中，我们全面评估了非医用材料的整体和尺寸相关的过滤性能。实验在不同的表面速度下进行，以研究其对尺寸依赖性过滤性能的影响。测量穿过这些过滤材料的流动阻力作为材料透气性的指标。结果表明，与 N95 材料相比，多层家用空气过滤器能够实现类似的过滤效率，而不会导致流阻显着增加。考虑到这些空气过滤器可能在切割和折叠过程中脱落微米纤维，建议在制造口罩或呼吸器时将这些过滤器插入多层织物中。
The recent outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is causing a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) in different countries around the world. Because the coronavirus can transmit through droplets and aerosols, facemasks and N95 respirators that require complex certification, are urgently needed. Given the situation, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that "in settings where facemasks are not available, healthcare personnel might use homemade masks (e.g., bandana, scarf) for the care of patients with COVID-19 as a last resort." Although aerosols and droplets can be removed through the fibers of fabrics through a series of filtration mechanisms, their filtration performances have not been evaluated in detail. Moreover, there are a series of non-medical materials available on the market, such as household air filters, coffee filters, and different types of fabrics, which may be useful when facemasks and respirators are not available. In this study, we comprehensively evaluated the overall and size-dependent filtration performances of non-medical materials. The experiments were conducted under different face velocities to study its influence on size-dependent filtration performances. The flow resistance across these filter materials is measured as an indicator of the breathability of the materials. The results illustrate that multiple layers of household air filters are able to achieve similar filtration efficiencies compared to the N95 material without causing a significant increase in flow resistance. Considering that these air filters may shed micrometer fibers during the cutting and folding processes, it is recommended that these filters should be inserted in multiple layers of fabrics when manufacturing facemasks or respirators.