Deposition of gum rosin microspheres on polypropylene microfibres used in face masks to enhance their hydrophobic behaviour

Abstract

[EN] The present study aims to investigate the effects of gum rosin (GR) microspheres coating over the hydrophobicity of the outer layer of a polypropylene (PP) based surgical face mask. The gum rosin coating was deposited over the surface of the face mask outer layer by electrospraying technique. The deposition of GR microspheres was confirmed by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis. The thermal analysis determined a cooperative effect between the microspheres and the mask fibre to increase the maximum degradation rate temperature and the onset degradation temperature. To follow the effect of the GR microspheres coating over the hydrophobicity of the surgical face mask, FESEM and wettability analyses were conducted before and after 3, 6, and 9 h of wearing time. In the FESEM image, it was seen that the microsphere was homogeneously distributed over the nonwoven fibre and its presence increases the roughness of the fibres due to the bulge of microspheres. The wettability measurements suggest that the microspheres coating helps to keep the original hydrophobicity of the outer layer of the surgical face mask even after 6 h of wearing time. Indeed, after 9 h of wearing time, the water contact angle (WCA) of the GR coated face mask is higher than the WCA of the surgical face mask without the coating at 3 h of wearing time. Therefore, the gun rosin microspheres coating improved the hydrophobicity of the surgical face mask which may allow improved protection and/or extended lifetime of use.