Fabrication of a highly protective 3D-printed mask and evaluation of its viral filtration efficiency using a human head mannequin.
HardwareX
; : e00314, 2022 May 08.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35572092
ABSTRACT
Facemasks are one of the most effective and low-cost prophylactics for COVID-19. In the spring 2020, when a severe shortage of facemasks occurred worldwide, various types of 3D-printed masks were designed and proposed. However, the protective effects conferred by most of these masks were not experimentally evaluated. Here, we provide a new simple design of 3D-printed mask and evaluate its protective effect in a viral filtration test using a human head mannequin. The developed mask can be constructed with a low-cost 3D printer, with an approximate production cost of US $4. This mask has three parts the main part, wearing parts, and a piece of non-woven fabric filter. The volume of the filter, which needs to be changed daily, was reduced to approximately 1/10 of that of commercially available surgical masks used in this study. The developed mask is fabricated from polylactic acid, a biodegradable plastic, and its surface contour contacting the face may be adjusted after softening the material with hot water at 60-80°C. The viral filtration efficiency of the developed mask was found to be over 80%. This performance is better than that of commercially available facemasks, such as surgical masks and cloth masks, and equal to those of KN95 and KF94.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Tipo de estudo:
Clinical_trials
Idioma:
En
Revista:
HardwareX
Ano de publicação:
2022
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Japão