Abstract This study aims to evaluate the filtration performance of three commercially available (3M 8210 respirator, Halyard 48,207 surgical mask, and 3M 1820 procedure mask) and two alternative face mask and respirator materials (Halyard H600 sterilization wrap and Cummins EX101) after selected decontamination treatments, including isopropanol (IPA) treatments (soaking or spraying), ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI), and heat treatments (dry heat at 77 °C or steam heat). Both IPA soaking and spraying removed most electrostatic charges on all four electret materials (three commercial and one alternative), causing significant deterioration of filtration efficiency to unacceptable level. The other non-electret alternative material sustained its N95-grade performance after both IPA soaking and spraying treatments, demonstrating the possible application of IPA disinfection for non-electret alternative respirator/mask materials. UVGI preserved the filtration of all three commercially available respirator/mask materials after up to 10 treatments, suggesting it can be a possible decontamination method for hospital and clinic use without compromising respirator/mask performance. The considerations of the practical implementation of this method was discussed. Between the two heat treatment methods tested, dry heat showed better compatibility with electret material by sustaining both filtration efficiency and fit (tested on commercial respirator only), although adding moisture was reported in favor of virus inactivation. Heat treatment is easily accessible method for general publics to implement at home, while it is recommended to maintain the moisture level below saturation. Comparing to size-integrated method, the size-resolved fractional efficiency measurement technique, although more time consuming, proved to be a better method for evaluating respirator/mask filtration performance after decontaminations by providing more sensitive detection of performance degradation and the capability of distinguishing charge loss to other mechanisms causing efficiency deterioration. Detailed descriptions are provided in methodology part to emphasize the cares needed for an appropriate efficiency evaluation. The limited results in this study on worn masks made of alternative sterilization wrap indicated possible performance degradation of electret material caused by normal human wearing activities, suggesting the need of assessing respirator/mask decontamination strategy by testing practically worn-and-decontaminated/reused samples instead of unworn only-decontaminated counterparts.

中文翻译：

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商用和替代呼吸器和面罩材料去污方法的评估——从过滤角度看

摘要 本研究旨在评估三种市售口罩（3M 8210 呼吸器、Halyard 48,207 手术口罩和 3M 1820 手术口罩）和两种替代面罩和呼吸器材料（Halyard H600 灭菌包和康明斯 EX101）在经过选定的去污处理后的过滤性能，包括异丙醇（IPA）处理（浸泡或喷雾）、紫外线杀菌照射（UVGI）和热处理（77℃干热或蒸汽热）。IPA 浸泡和喷涂都去除了所有四种驻极体材料（三种商业材料和一种替代材料）上的大部分静电荷，导致过滤效率显着下降到不可接受的水平。另一种非驻极体替代材料在 IPA 浸泡和喷涂处理后仍保持 N95 级性能，这表明 IPA 消毒在非驻极体替代呼吸器/面罩材料中的应用的可能性。经过多达 10 次处理后，UVGI 保留了所有三种市售呼吸器/面罩材料的过滤性能，这表明它可以成为医院和诊所使用的一种可能的净化方法，而不会影响呼吸器/面罩的性能。讨论了该方法实际实施时的考虑因素。在测试的两种热处理方法之间，干热通过维持过滤效率和贴合性（仅在商用呼吸器上测试）表现出与驻极体材料更好的相容性，尽管据报道添加水分有利于病毒灭活。热处理是普通大众在家中容易实施的方法，同时建议将湿度保持在饱和以下。与尺寸积分方法相比，尺寸分辨分数效率测量技术虽然更耗时，但通过提供更灵敏的性能退化检测和区分电荷的能力，被证明是评估去污后呼吸器/面罩过滤性能的更好方法其他机制的损失导致效率下降。方法部分提供了详细的描述，以强调适当的效率评估所需的注意事项。这项对由替代灭菌包装制成的佩戴口罩进行的研究的有限结果表明，人类正常佩戴活动可能会导致驻极体材料的性能下降，这表明需要通过测试实际佩戴和去污/重复使用的样品来评估呼吸器/面罩去污策略未佩戴的仅经过消毒的对应物。