Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T08:02:39.849Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effect of Ultraviolet C Disinfection Treatment on the Nanomechanical and Topographic Properties of N95 Respirator Filtration Microfibers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 September 2020

Yujie Meng ,
Rae Zeng ,
Kurt Rubin  and
Kelly Barry
Yujie Meng*
Affiliation:
KLA Corporation, 205 Perimeter Park, Suite C, Knoxville, TN, 37922, U.S.A.
Rae Zeng
Affiliation:
KLA Corporation, 1 Technology Drive, Milpitas, CA, 95035, U.S.A.
Kurt Rubin
Affiliation:
KLA Corporation, 1 Technology Drive, Milpitas, CA, 95035, U.S.A.
Kelly Barry
Affiliation:
KLA Corporation, 1 Technology Drive, Milpitas, CA, 95035, U.S.A.
*
*Corresponding Author: Email: [email protected]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) N95 filtering facepiece respirator (FFR) treatment is considered an effective decontamination approach to address the supply shortage of N95 FFRs during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. In this study, we investigated the nanomechanical and topographic properties of filtration fibers that have been exposed to different doses of UVC radiation. UVC exposure was shown to decrease both Young's modulus (E), hardness (H) and fiber width, as measured on individual polypropylene (PP) fibers. Our results also show that the PP microfiber layer loses its strength when N95 respirators are exposed to an accumulated UVC dose during the process of decontamination, and the PP fiber width also exhibits a logarithmic decrease during UVC exposure. The nanoscale measurement results on individual fibers suggest that maximum cycles of UVC disinfection treatment should be limited due to excessive accumulated dose, which has the potential to decrease the fiber breaking strength.

Type
Articles
Information
MRS Advances , Volume 5 , Issue 56: Materials advances in application to COVID-19 related challenges , 2020 , pp. 2863 - 2872
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020, published on behalf of Materials Research Society by Cambridge University Press

References

“Respirator Trusted-Source: Selection FAQs”, U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 2020-03-12.Google Scholar
Tsai, P.P. and Wadsworth, L.C., “Method and apparatus for the electrostatic charging of a web or film,” US5401446A, United States Patent and Trademark Office,1992.Google Scholar
“Decontamination and Reuse of Filtering Facepiece Respirators,” CDC (2020c, April 9), https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/ppe-strategy/decontamination-reuse-respirators.html. (Accessed 1 September 2020)Google Scholar
Haas, K.. UNH researchers working on UV disinfection of N95 masks. Union Leader (2020). Available at https://www.unionleader.com/news/health/coronavirus/unh-researchers-working-on-uv-disinfection-of-n95-masks/article_4192d764-2773-514d-b5c6-027be3379842.html. (Accessed 1 September 2020)Google Scholar
Anderson, J.G., Rowan, N.J., MacGregor, S.J., Fouracre, R.A. and Farish, O., “Inactivation of food-borne enteropathogenic bacteria and spoilage fungi using pulsed-light,” IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society, volume 28 (1) (2000), 83–88, https://doi.org/10.1109/27.842870.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ito, A. and Ito, T., “Absorption spectra of deoxyribose, ribosephosphate, ATP and DNA by direct transmission measurements in the vacuum-UV (150-190 nm) and far-UV (190-260 nm) regions using synchrotron radiation as a light source,” Photochemistry and Photobiology, volume 44 (3), (1986) 355–358, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-1097.1986.tb04675.x.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lowe, J.J., Paladino, K.D., Farke, J.D., Boulter, K., Cawcutt, K., Schwedhelo, M., Vasa, A., Wadman, M., Watson, S. and Rupp, M.E., M.E, “N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirator Ultraviolet and Reuse,” Nebraska Medicine (2020), https://www.nebraskamed.com/sites/default/files/documents/covid-19/n-95-decon-process.pdf (Accessed 1 September 2020)Google Scholar
Lindsley, W.G., Martin, S.B., Thewlis, R.E., Sarkisian, K., Nwoko, J.O., Mead, K.R. and Noti, J.D., J. D., “Effects of Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation (UVGI) on N95 Respirator Filtration Performance and Structural Integrity,” Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene , volume 12 (8), (2015) 509–517, https://doi.org/10.1080/15459624.2015.1018518.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tsai, P.P., “Performance of Masks and Discussion of the Inactivation of SARS-CoV-2,” Engineered Science, 10.30919/es8d1110 (2020).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hay, J.L., Agee, P. and Herbert, E.G., “Continuous stiffness measurement during instrumented indentation testing,” Experimental Techniques, volume 34 (3), (2010) 86-94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keene, B.N., “Biodegradation of Polypropylene Nonwovens,” Ph.D. Thesis, North Carolina State University, AAT 3538393, ISBN: 9781303012310 (2012).Google Scholar