Comparative Study of Polypropylene Non-Woven Surgical Mask and Locally Manufactured Woven and Knitted Fabrics Facial Masks

The outbreak of coronavirus has led to an increase in the demand for facemasks globally. Unavailability of appropriate polypropylene non-woven fabrics face masks as a result of inadequate supply to satisfy the growing population has brought about the manufacturing of locally fabrics masks to augment or substitute standard medical class facemasks. The study aims at analyzing airflow of these locally manufactured fabrics to determine possible means of transmitting the virus as well as establish comfort of the user of these masks. Standard polypropylene non-woven, woven and knitted fabrics were considered for the study. Air permeability test was conducted on these fabrics using Frazier Air permeability tester. Depending on the property significant variation in the textile fabrics, polypropylene non-woven is widely accepted for facial masks. Nevertheless, this study illustrates that woven and knitted fabrics have more open structures, which allow a high rate of air penetration and so may require two or three layers to prevent antimicrobial or antiviral potential.