Performance of materials used for biological personal protective equipment against blood splash penetration

SHIMASAKI, Noriko; SHINOHARA, Katsuaki; MORIKAWA, Hideki

Eleven fabrics used in commercially available PPC or masks at hospitals were tested in this study (Table 1) . These fabrics were previously tested for penetration resistance to SB according to the pressurized cell test (JIS T 8060, Fig. 1 ) 16) and grouped into specific classes according to the response to applied pressure 17) . In JIS T 8060, the loaded pressure level is divided into six stages, and the pressure is increased step-by-step at 5-min intervals. Higher-class fabrics were more resistant to pressure -i.e., of those that were woven, samples 1, 2, and 4 were in class < 1, whereas samples 3 and 5 were in class 1; and of those that were non-woven, sample 6 was in class < 1; samples 7, 8, and 9 were in class 1; sample 11 was in class 2; and sample 10 was in class 3 18) . Samples were cut into squares measuring 13 × 13 cm for testing. Testing apparatus and procedure The experimental setup of the testing apparatus based on ISO 22609 is shown in Fig. 2a . The apparatus consisted of a testing booth equipped with a splash gun, sample holder, and a splash pressure control unit. We tested woven and non-woven materials used for PPC or masks at impact pressures of 16.0 and 21.3 kPa, which were the same as those for SB in ISO 22609. We used Kimtowel paper (Nippon Paper Crecia Co., Tokyo, Japan) to absorb and easily visualize the leaked liquid. The fabric sample was placed in the sample holder along with a sheet of the absorbent paper with a diameter of 8 cm. The distance between the splash gun and sample holder was 30 cm. A 2-ml volume of SB (Synthetic Blood Reagent Mix: ISO 16603; Johnson, Moen & Co., Rochester, MN, USA) was ejected from the splash gun onto the sample, which was then removed from the holder along with the paper. The back of the sample was checked for leaked SB and the area was measured to determine leakage volume (Fig. 2b) . The test was repeated five times for each sample.