Filtration efficiency of surgical and FFP3 masks against composite dust

The aim of this study was to investigate the protection efficiency of two types of face masks against composite dust and to characterize the particles that penetrated through the masks. Composite dust was created by grinding a commercial nano‐filled composite in a plexiglass box without using water...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal of oral sciences 2020-06, Vol.128 (3), p.233-240
Main Authors: Breul, Sebastian, Van Landuyt, Kirsten L., Reichl, Franz X., Högg, Christof, Hoet, Peter, Godderis, Lode, Van Meerbeek, Bart, Cokic, Stevan M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
composite dust
dental (surgical) mask
Dust
Dust control
Dust filters
Electron microscopy
FFP3 respirator
Filters
Filtration
Gravimetry
Grinding
High vacuum
Liquid cooling
Masks
Nanoparticle
Nanoparticles
Particulate composites
Protective equipment
Skeletal composites
transmission electron microscopy (TEM)
Vacuum
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:The aim of this study was to investigate the protection efficiency of two types of face masks against composite dust and to characterize the particles that penetrated through the masks. Composite dust was created by grinding a commercial nano‐filled composite in a plexiglass box without using water cooling or high vacuum evacuation, in order to obtain a worst‐case exposure. Dust particles were collected using a personal inhalable aerosol sampler (IOM) fixed inside a custom‐made phantom head. Surgical and filtering facepiece (FFP3) masks were tested, and the situation without a mask served as control. The IOM sampler contained a cassette with two filters to collect large inhalable (4–100 µm) and respirable dust particles (1 µm) being seen when no mask was applied, whereas only nanoparticles could be detected when either type of face mask was applied. Even though FFP3 masks showed a higher filtration efficacy than surgical masks of the inhalable dust fraction, penetration of a small respirable particle fraction was inevitable for both masks.
ISSN:0909-8836
1600-0722
DOI:10.1111/eos.12697