Improvement of Moisture Management Properties of Face Masks Using Electrospun Nanofiber Filter Insert

Face coverings such as a face mask are one of the important preventive measures amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, by limiting exhaled particles and reducing expiratory droplet spread. Adding a filter to face masks may offer extra protection against the virus. Nevertheless, there remains a significant co...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Adsorption science & technology 2022, Vol.2022
Main Authors: Fadil, Fatirah, Affandi, Nor Dalila Nor, Harun, Ahmad Mukifza, Alam, Mohammad Khursheed
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Electrospinning
Inserts
Masks
Moisture
Nanofibers
Permeability
Rigidity
Water vapor
Woven fabrics
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Face coverings such as a face mask are one of the important preventive measures amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, by limiting exhaled particles and reducing expiratory droplet spread. Adding a filter to face masks may offer extra protection against the virus. Nevertheless, there remains a significant concern where thicker, tightly woven materials of masks may reduce the ability to breathe comfortably, due to inadequate moisture management properties of woven fabric in existing disposable surgical face masks. Therefore, the study on the properties of air permeability, water vapor permeability, and flexural rigidity of a face mask fabric is highly essential. This study is aimed at analyzing the potential application of electrospun nanofibers fabricated from electrospinning technique, as filter inserts in commercial surgical face masks. The function of electrospun nanofiber filter (NF) inserted in commercial surgical face masks was introduced in the study. The results indicated the significant reduction in air permeability and water vapor permeability along with the additional usage of electrospun NF within the surgical face masks, due to the smaller fiber size and interspaces in the filter layer as analyzed from FESEM analysis. The percentage of air permeability value was slightly decreased by 15.9%, from 339.5 to 285.5 mm/s, whereas the value of flexural rigidity of surgical face masks with and without electrospun NF insert is 0.1358 and 0.1207 mg/cm, respectively. Hence, the NF inserts are recommended as the potential core component in a face mask.
ISSN:0263-6174
2048-4038
DOI:10.1155/2022/9351778