Polymer, Additives, and Processing Effects on N95 Filter Performance

Gregory S. Larsen; Yongqiang Cheng; Luke L. Daemen; Tej N. Lamichhane; Dale K. Hensley; Kunlun Hong; Harry M. Meyer; Steven J. Monaco; Alan M. Levine; Richard J. Lee; Emma Betters; Kim Sitzlar; Jesse Heineman; Justin West; Peter Lloyd; Vlastimil Kunc; Lonnie Love; Merlin Theodore; Mariappan Parans Paranthaman

doi:10.1021/acsapm.0c01294

Polymer, Additives, and Processing Effects on N95 Filter Performance

Gregory S. Larsen, Yongqiang Cheng, Luke L. Daemen, Tej N. Lamichhane, Dale K. Hensley, Kunlun Hong, Harry M. Meyer, Steven J. Monaco, Alan M. Levine, Richard J. Lee, Emma Betters, Kim Sitzlar, Jesse Heineman, Justin West, Peter Lloyd, Vlastimil Kunc, Lonnie Love, Merlin Theodore, Mariappan Parans Paranthaman

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

28 Scopus citations

Abstract

The current severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) pandemic has highlighted the need for personal protective equipment, specifically filtering facepiece respirators like N95 masks. While it is common knowledge that polypropylene (PP) is the industry standard material for filtration media, trial and error is often required to identify suitable commercial precursors for filtration media production. This work aims to identify differences between several commercial grades of PP and demonstrate the development of N95 filtration media with the intent that the industry partners can pivot and help address N95 shortages. Three commercial grades of high melt flow index PP were melt blown at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and broadly characterized by several methods including differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and neutron scattering. Despite the apparent similarities (high melt flow and isotacticity) between PP feedstocks, the application of corona charging and charge enhancing additives improve each material to widely varying degrees. From the analysis performed here, the most differentiating factor appears to be related to crystallization of the polymer and the resulting electret formation. Materials with higher crystallization onset temperatures, slower crystallization rates, and larger number of crystallites form a stronger electret and are more effective at filtration.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1022-1031
Number of pages	10
Journal	ACS Applied Polymer Materials
Volume	3
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acsapm.0c01294
State	Published - Feb 12 2021

Funding

This research was supported by the DOE Office of Science through the National Virtual Biotechnology Laboratory (NVBL), a consortium of DOE national laboratories focused on response to COVID-19, with funding provided by the Coronavirus CARES Act. SEM microstructural characterizations and FTIR measurements were conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is the US Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility. Neutron scattering experiment was performed at ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source, supported by the Scientific User Facilities Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, US DOE, under contract no. DE-AC0500OR22725 with UT Battelle, LLC. Thanks to Dr. Peter Tsai for helpful discussions. The US Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US Government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan ).

Funders	Funder number
National Virtual Biotechnology Laboratory
Office of Basic Energy Sciences
Scientific User Facilities Division
U.S. Department of Energy	DE-AC0500OR22725
Office of Science

Keywords

N95
crystallization
electret
filtration
isotactic polypropylene
melt blowing

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1021/acsapm.0c01294

Cite this

Larsen, G. S., Cheng, Y., Daemen, L. L., Lamichhane, T. N., Hensley, D. K., Hong, K., Meyer, H. M., Monaco, S. J., Levine, A. M., Lee, R. J., Betters, E., Sitzlar, K., Heineman, J., West, J., Lloyd, P., Kunc, V., Love, L., Theodore, M., & Paranthaman, M. P. (2021). Polymer, Additives, and Processing Effects on N95 Filter Performance. ACS Applied Polymer Materials, 3(2), 1022-1031. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsapm.0c01294

@article{f19f7b99e63a40029c7bf9e2aa9efc03,

title = "Polymer, Additives, and Processing Effects on N95 Filter Performance",

abstract = "The current severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) pandemic has highlighted the need for personal protective equipment, specifically filtering facepiece respirators like N95 masks. While it is common knowledge that polypropylene (PP) is the industry standard material for filtration media, trial and error is often required to identify suitable commercial precursors for filtration media production. This work aims to identify differences between several commercial grades of PP and demonstrate the development of N95 filtration media with the intent that the industry partners can pivot and help address N95 shortages. Three commercial grades of high melt flow index PP were melt blown at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and broadly characterized by several methods including differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and neutron scattering. Despite the apparent similarities (high melt flow and isotacticity) between PP feedstocks, the application of corona charging and charge enhancing additives improve each material to widely varying degrees. From the analysis performed here, the most differentiating factor appears to be related to crystallization of the polymer and the resulting electret formation. Materials with higher crystallization onset temperatures, slower crystallization rates, and larger number of crystallites form a stronger electret and are more effective at filtration.",

keywords = "N95, crystallization, electret, filtration, isotactic polypropylene, melt blowing",

author = "Larsen, {Gregory S.} and Yongqiang Cheng and Daemen, {Luke L.} and Lamichhane, {Tej N.} and Hensley, {Dale K.} and Kunlun Hong and Meyer, {Harry M.} and Monaco, {Steven J.} and Levine, {Alan M.} and Lee, {Richard J.} and Emma Betters and Kim Sitzlar and Jesse Heineman and Justin West and Peter Lloyd and Vlastimil Kunc and Lonnie Love and Merlin Theodore and Paranthaman, {Mariappan Parans}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 American Chemical Society.",

year = "2021",

month = feb,

day = "12",

doi = "10.1021/acsapm.0c01294",

language = "English",

volume = "3",

pages = "1022--1031",

journal = "ACS Applied Polymer Materials",

issn = "2637-6105",

publisher = "American Chemical Society",

number = "2",

}

Larsen, GS, Cheng, Y, Daemen, LL, Lamichhane, TN, Hensley, DK, Hong, K, Meyer, HM, Monaco, SJ, Levine, AM, Lee, RJ, Betters, E, Sitzlar, K, Heineman, J, West, J, Lloyd, P, Kunc, V, Love, L, Theodore, M & Paranthaman, MP 2021, 'Polymer, Additives, and Processing Effects on N95 Filter Performance', ACS Applied Polymer Materials, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 1022-1031. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsapm.0c01294

TY - JOUR

T1 - Polymer, Additives, and Processing Effects on N95 Filter Performance

AU - Larsen, Gregory S.

AU - Cheng, Yongqiang

AU - Daemen, Luke L.

AU - Lamichhane, Tej N.

AU - Hensley, Dale K.

AU - Hong, Kunlun

AU - Meyer, Harry M.

AU - Monaco, Steven J.

AU - Levine, Alan M.

AU - Lee, Richard J.

AU - Betters, Emma

AU - Sitzlar, Kim

AU - Heineman, Jesse

AU - West, Justin

AU - Lloyd, Peter

AU - Kunc, Vlastimil

AU - Love, Lonnie

AU - Theodore, Merlin

AU - Paranthaman, Mariappan Parans

PY - 2021/2/12

Y1 - 2021/2/12

N2 - The current severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) pandemic has highlighted the need for personal protective equipment, specifically filtering facepiece respirators like N95 masks. While it is common knowledge that polypropylene (PP) is the industry standard material for filtration media, trial and error is often required to identify suitable commercial precursors for filtration media production. This work aims to identify differences between several commercial grades of PP and demonstrate the development of N95 filtration media with the intent that the industry partners can pivot and help address N95 shortages. Three commercial grades of high melt flow index PP were melt blown at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and broadly characterized by several methods including differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and neutron scattering. Despite the apparent similarities (high melt flow and isotacticity) between PP feedstocks, the application of corona charging and charge enhancing additives improve each material to widely varying degrees. From the analysis performed here, the most differentiating factor appears to be related to crystallization of the polymer and the resulting electret formation. Materials with higher crystallization onset temperatures, slower crystallization rates, and larger number of crystallites form a stronger electret and are more effective at filtration.

AB - The current severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) pandemic has highlighted the need for personal protective equipment, specifically filtering facepiece respirators like N95 masks. While it is common knowledge that polypropylene (PP) is the industry standard material for filtration media, trial and error is often required to identify suitable commercial precursors for filtration media production. This work aims to identify differences between several commercial grades of PP and demonstrate the development of N95 filtration media with the intent that the industry partners can pivot and help address N95 shortages. Three commercial grades of high melt flow index PP were melt blown at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and broadly characterized by several methods including differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and neutron scattering. Despite the apparent similarities (high melt flow and isotacticity) between PP feedstocks, the application of corona charging and charge enhancing additives improve each material to widely varying degrees. From the analysis performed here, the most differentiating factor appears to be related to crystallization of the polymer and the resulting electret formation. Materials with higher crystallization onset temperatures, slower crystallization rates, and larger number of crystallites form a stronger electret and are more effective at filtration.

KW - N95

KW - crystallization

KW - electret

KW - filtration

KW - isotactic polypropylene

KW - melt blowing

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85100316605&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1021/acsapm.0c01294

DO - 10.1021/acsapm.0c01294

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85100316605

SN - 2637-6105

VL - 3

SP - 1022

EP - 1031

JO - ACS Applied Polymer Materials

JF - ACS Applied Polymer Materials

IS - 2

ER -

Polymer, Additives, and Processing Effects on N95 Filter Performance

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this