THE FIRST STEPS TO N95: LOW-TECH AND ADAPTED EQUIPMENT TO AUTONOMOUS DEVELOPMENT OF PLASTIC MICROFIBER FOR MASK FILTERING
PRIMEIROS PASSOS PARA A N95: EQUIPAMENTOS DE BAIXA TECNOLOGIA E ADAPTADOS PARA O DESENVOLVIMENTO AUTÔNOMO DE MICROFIBRAS PLÁSTICAS PARA FILTRAÇÃO DE MÁSCARAS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29183/2447-3073.MIX2025.v11.n2.205-217Keywords:
Cotton Candy, Melt Spinning, FilterAbstract
The pandemic has brought unprecedented obstacles. One of the critical challenges was the shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Additive manufacturing has emerged as a viable solution to solve the shortage of PPE. Developed 3D-printed masks were a way to combat the market shortage, but producing the filter element is still an obstacle. This study documents research into the feasibility of applying the plastic casting technique using centrifugal melt spinning, a possible way of replicating existing processes. The concept is simple and similar to the way cotton candy is made. The aim is to point out possible ways of using distributed manufacturing and recycling and adapting local infrastructure to manufacture viable filters, comparing them with those generated using traditional methods.
References
AMIR, A. and AMIR, B. (2022). Combating the COVID-19 pandemic using 3d printed ppe: challenges and recommendations. The Open Public Health Journal, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.2174/18749445-v15-e2206010
BANDI MM. (2020). Electrocharged facepiece respirator fabrics using common materials. Proc. R. Soc. A 476: 20200469. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.2020.0469
BANDI, M., ISHIZU, N., KANG, H. (2021). Electrocharging face masks with corona discharge treatment. Proceedings of the Royal Society a Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences, 477(2251). https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.2021.0062
BASBALLE, D., HALSKOV, K. (2012). Dynamics of research through design. In Proceedings of the Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS '12). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 58–67. https://doi.org/10.1145/2317956.2317967
EHRLICH, H., MCKENNEY, M., ELKBULI, A. (2020). Protecting our healthcare workers during the covid-19 pandemic. The American Journal of Emergency Medicine, 38(7), 1527-1528. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajem.2020.04.024
FRAM, D., ESCUDERO, D., MATIAS, L., COELHO, W., ANTONELLI, T., FERREIRA, D., MEDEIROS, E. (2020). Personal protective equipment: shortage or waste?. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, 42(6), 786-787. https://doi.org/10.1017/ice.2020.354
GROSSMAN, J., PIERCE, A., MODY, J., GAGNE, J., SYKORA, C., SAYOOD, S., ECKHOUSE, S. (2020). Institution of a novel process for n95 respirator disinfection with vaporized hydrogen peroxide in the setting of the covid-19 pandemic at a large academic medical center. Journal of the American College of Surgeons, 231(2), 275-280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2020.04.029
MOLINA, A. (2020). Project 1000 x 1000: centrifugal melt spinning for distributed manufacturing of n95 filtering facepiece respirators. https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2004.13494
REEVES, S. (2015). Human-computer interaction as science. In Proceedings of The Fifth Decennial Aarhus Conference on Critical Alternatives (CA '15). Aarhus University Press, Aarhus N, 73–84. https://doi.org/10.7146/aahcc.v1i1.21296
SCHMIDT, J., WALDOVA, E., BALKOVA, S., PILBAUEROVA, N., SMUCLER, R. (2021). Impact of covid-19 on czech dentistry: a nationwide cross-sectional preliminary study among dentists in the czech republic. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(17), 9121. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18179121
SWENNEN, G., POTTEL, L., HAERS, P. (2020). Custom-made 3d-printed face masks in case of pandemic crisis situations with a lack of commercially available ffp2/3 masks. International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, 49(5), 673-677. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijom.2020.03.015
VALDEZ, S., WALTON, K., LORESTO, F., NYQUIST, A., GIVENS, P. (2022). Protecting pediatric healthcare personnel with personal protective equipment–specific roles. Jona the Journal of Nursing Administration, 52(6), 330-331. https://doi.org/10.1097/nna.0000000000001157
WIBISONO, Y., FADILA, C. R., SAIFUL, S., BILAD, M. R. (2020). Facile approaches of polymeric face masks reuse and reinforcements for micro-aerosol droplets and viruses filtration: a review. Polymers, 12(11), 2516. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12112516
YAMAKI, Roberto Takao; CORREIA DE MELO, João Victor; SANTOS, Jorge Roberto Lopes dos; KAUFFMANN, Aline Reis; "Desenvolvimento de máscara de proteção contra a COVID-19 utilizando manufatura aditiva", p. 1866-1893 . In: Anais do 14º Congresso Brasileiro de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento em Design. São Paulo: Blucher, 2022. ISSN 2318-6968, DOI 10.5151/ped2022-7791844
ZIMMERMAN, John; FORLIZZI, Jodi; EVENSON, Shelley. Research through design as a method for interaction design research in HCI. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems. 2007. p. 493-502. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/1240624.1240704
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Roberto Takao Yamaki, João Victor Azevedo de Menezes Correira de Melo, Pedro Themoteo Alves Corrêa, Raphael de Pinho Vinagre, Jorge Roberto Lopes dos Santos

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Creative Commons Copyright Notice
Attribution 4.0 International