A study of the nonsteady-state filtration process in a fibrous material in conditions of real dust loading.

The study concerns ways to describe filtration efficiency and gas flow resistance while particles are deposited in fibrous respiratory protective filters under conditions characteristic for their use. The performance of fibrous filter materials of varied structure and electrostatic properties was studied, using polydisperse coarse-grained aerosols and submicron aerosols of sodium chloride. Evidence was found that changes in airflow resistance depended to a large extent on air humidity and the concentration of the aerosol. A relationship was also found between the electrostatic properties of filter media and their decreasing efficiency with time. A numerical model was developed to simulate the phenomenon of nonsteady-state filtration for 2 mechanisms of deposition, which permitted assessment of the filtration characteristics of filter media of any design and in any conditions.