COVID-19 pandemic: Style and design tweaks increase shelf daily life of N95 facemasks, scientists claim | 2020-09-14

West Lafayette, IN — Researchers from Purdue College have formulated new models for N95 facemasks they say will lengthen the shelf lifetime of the respiratory defense commonly applied by overall health care staff.

As desire for N95s has risen in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, shortages have occurred, generating stockpiling and lengthy-time period storage of the respirators a normal practice amid wellness treatment employers. The scientists take note, nonetheless, that the longevity of the masks is largely affected by the rubber, which deteriorates around time, in the elastic band that secures the mask to the user’s deal with.

“We intended a way to build the masks applying the very same filter materials on the entrance, but with distinctive elements for the band and with novel attachment places and strategies,” Hersh Rai, a graduate scholar in pc and information and facts technological innovation, mentioned in a June 23 college push launch.

 

The researchers engineered many layout choices that accommodate bands made of elastic or various elements. The patterns allow for for added attachment points for the bands, which can make “a far more safe in good shape with out contaminating the entrance material” and “be swapped out so the mask can last for a longer period,” the launch states.

According to a separate release, issued Aug. 7, the Purdue Investigate Foundation’s Business of Know-how Commercialization is trying to find patents for the new styles, alongside with professional associates to guide with ongoing improvement of the job.