Skip to main content
Wilson College of Textiles 
Textile Protection And Comfort Center

Personal Protective Equipment

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused shortages of life-saving personal protective equipment (PPE) for infected individuals, vulnerable populations and health care professionals worldwide. This has given rise to a global response from individuals, industry and academia to develop adequate face masks for the general population using readily available materials such as bandanas, HVAC filters, coffee filters and other apparel textiles.

This has resulted in a need to provide simple, yet effective assessments of particulate filtration efficiency. While the particulate filtration rests on material performance, ensuring a proper fit and seal against the face is of equal concern. TPACC has focused its more than 25 years of expertise in developing and evaluating PPE to provide the following mask performance tests.

Material-Level Evaluation of Particulate Filtration Efficiency

> Utilizes a modified Sioutas Particle Impactor to hold the material sample(s)
> Single or multiple layers of materials
> Up and downstream particle counts measured at six ranges (0.3, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10 μm)
> Provides fast, efficient, and repeatable assessment of face mask material particulate filtration efficiency

Read more 
A Sioutas Particle Impactor

Dynamic Headform Assessment of Mask Performance and Face Seal

> Animatronic breathing headform with silicone skin to provide realistic seal to the face
> Head motions include nod, shake, wobble, and jaw bite at two speeds
> Programmable breathing patterns, volumes, and rates
> Provides particle count at 0.3 micrometers and evaluation of face mask seal.

Read more 
A mask placed on a headform with silicon skin

For more information on TPACC testing capabilities related to COVID-19 response, please contact: