Particle release from respirators, part II: determination of the effect of tension applied in simulation of removal

This study evaluated the potential for disposable filtering facepiece respirators (hereafter termed masks) contaminated with 1-μ m particles to release particles as a result of lateral tension applied to the mask. The lateral tension was designed to simulate the removal of a contaminated mask from a user's head. Four brands of filtering facepieces were loaded with approximately 20 million 1.0-μ m polystyrene latex (PSL) microspheres. The respirators were then placed in a test chamber and subjected to lateral tension between 17.8-26.7 N (4-6 lbs) for 1 to 2 sec. The findings suggest that neither mask type nor loading condition affects particle release. This supports our hypothesis that when filtering facepiece respirators are properly removed from the head they will not release a significant number of particles.