Martelly Erica, Li Charles, Shimada Kenji
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
Materials (Basel). 2021 Nov 22;14(22):7082. doi: 10.3390/ma14227082.
There has been high demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially N95 respirators. Unfortunately, at the early stage of the pandemic, the supply could not meet the demand for N95 respirators, leading to a shortage and unsafe reuse of this form of PPE. We developed the Moldable Mask to ease the demand for N95 respirators by creating a 3D-printed mask that uses a piece of N95 material as a filter. A sheet of N95 material could be used or one N95 respirator to be turned into two masks. The main feature of the mask is the ability to easily mold it in hot water to create a custom fit for each user. It can also be easily assembled at home with affordable materials. The final mask design was qualitatively fit tested on 13 subjects, with all subjects showing an improvement in fit with the hot water molding technique and 10 (77%) subjects passing the fit test. This shows that the Moldable Mask is a viable option for a safe, affordable N95 alternative when N95 mask supply is strained.
在新冠疫情期间，对个人防护装备（PPE）的需求一直很高，尤其是N95口罩。不幸的是，在疫情初期，N95口罩的供应无法满足需求，导致这种形式的个人防护装备短缺以及不安全的重复使用。我们开发了可塑形口罩，通过制作一种3D打印口罩来缓解对N95口罩的需求，这种口罩使用一片N95材料作为过滤器。一片N95材料可以使用，或者一个N95口罩可以变成两个口罩。该口罩的主要特点是能够在热水中轻松塑形，为每个用户打造定制贴合度。它也可以在家中用价格实惠的材料轻松组装。最终的口罩设计在13名受试者身上进行了定性贴合测试，所有受试者在采用热水塑形技术后贴合度都有所提高，10名（77%）受试者通过了贴合测试。这表明，当N95口罩供应紧张时，可塑形口罩是一种安全、实惠的N95替代品的可行选择。
