Enhanced filtration and comfort properties of nonwoven filtering facepiece respirator by the incorporation of polymeric
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Enhanced filtration and comfort properties of nonwoven filtering facepiece respirator by the incorporation of polymeric nanoweb Ahsan Nazir1,2 · Nabyl Khenoussi2 · Tanveer Hussain1 · Sharjeel Abid1 · Laurence Schacher2 · Dominique Adolphe2 · Abdul Zahir1 · Muhammad Bilal Qadir1 · Zubair Khaliq1 · Amir Shahzad1 Received: 2 July 2019 / Revised: 26 August 2019 / Accepted: 26 October 2019 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019
Abstract Protection for the respiratory system has become a need of the day due to increased air pollution. Different nonwoven filter media have been incorporated into filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs). However, the performance of these systems could be improved further by the addition of finer nanowebs. The effect of the addition of intermediate media (nanowebs) on the comfort of FFRs also needs to be studied, as comfort can affect the performance of wearer. In this study, electrospun polymeric nanowebs were incorporated between layers of commercially available nonwoven fabrics to improve its filtration performance. The effect of the addition of polymeric webs between the layers of nonwoven filter media on the comfort properties was also studied. It was concluded that the addition of nanowebs remarkably improved the filtration capability of filter media. Also, it was found to have mixed impact on comfort properties of the resultant composite filter media; air permeability was reduced from 58 to 50 mm/s, while the filtration efficiency was improved along with thermal and water vapor permeability. Thermal conductivity was increased from 30.5 to 39 [(W/cm °C) × 104]. Water vapor permeability increased from 1.70 to 2.04 [(g/s mm2) × 108]. Keywords Comfort · Filtering facepiece respirators · Nanofibers · Respiratory protection
* Sharjeel Abid [email protected] 1
Electrospun Materials and Polymeric Membranes Research Group (EMPMRG), National Textile University, Faisalabad, Pakistan
2
Laboratoire de Physique et Mécanique Textiles (LPMT), Université de Haute-Alsace | UHA, Mulhouse, France
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Vol.:(0123456789)
Polymer Bulletin
Introduction With increased industrialization and transport vehicles, pollution has become a serious threat to human health [1]. According to World Health Organization (WHO), it is one of the major causes for premature deaths of this century [2]. Therefore, an increase in the usage of respiratory protective systems is inevitable. Respiratory protection, as the name indicates, provides a barrier between the human respiratory system and external agents, such as particles, pollens and microbes through filtration. This filtration process removes these agents from the air during respiration. Respirators use different types of filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) to accomplish filtration while putting a minimum burden on the wearer. Efficient filtration of aerosols through filtration media may be due to various interactions with separating phases such as mechanical, physical, chemical and electrical [3]. The filtration efficiency is
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