Evaluation of filter penetration for various types of facemask

Prior to the corona-virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the efficiency of community masks in preventing the spread of respiratory illnesses was debatable due to a lack of reliable evidence. Many types of masks can protect ones from getting and spreading COVID-19. Masks work best when everyone wears them, but not all masks provide the same protection. This experiment evaluates filter penetration and the resistance of various types of face masks. The filters penetration used to conduct this study such as N95, surgical face masks, and cloth face masks (cotton, jeans, and lycra) were chosen for the penetration. Three sets of double masks (the surgical 3-ply mask paired up with 3 types of fabric mask - Cotton, Jeans and Lycra) were chosen for the test and N95 type mask (as reference). The experiment was repeated three times. The individuals and degrees of physical exercise have different breathing frequencies (breaths/min). Flow rates for inhalation for someone who does heavy work and for someone who does light work were set at 95 l/min and 30 l/min, respectively. All testing was carried out according to Malaysian Standard MS 2323:2010, which aligned with European Standard EN 149:2001. What stand out in Figure 2 is the general pattern of the resistance of the face mask in 95 l/min (mbar). The resistance of the penetration test for the face mask peaked at the surgical face mask type 3. The number of the surgical face mask type 3 for single is 15.06301, 15.04994 for surgical face mask type 3 with lycra, 15.04667 for surgical face mask type 3 with cotton and 15.0532078 for surgical face mask type 3 with jeans. Besides that, what stands out in Figure 4 is the general pattern of the resistance of the face mask in 30 l/min (mbar). The resistance of the penetration test for the face mask peaked at the surgical face mask type 3. The number of surgical face mask type 3 for single is 4.847754, 5.370775 for surgical face mask type 3 with lycra, 7.900891 for surgical face mask type 3 with cotton and 9.77069228 for surgical face mask type 3 with jeans. The rate fell to a low point for resistance of the penetration face mask is on the single lycra face mask. The number of the resistance for the lycra is 0.124218. The percentage of penetration for the face mask is slightly dropped after double face mask. What can be clearly seen in this chart is the difference between the percentage of the penetration single face mask and double face mask. The percentage of the penetratio