Now that facemasks are a hot item that everyone wants to buy, why aren't the world's factories ramping up production of them? They can't, because one of the machines required to make the seemingly-simple objects is fiendishly complicated to make.
The filtering properties of the mask are conferred by a material called melt-blown fabric. This non-woven fabric is created by extruding melted polymer through an array of small nozzles, into a space filled with hot gas blowing at high speed. The flow of gas precisely stretches the extrusions as they emerge from the nozzles and land on a drum, fusing together to form a sheet. The resultant material is porous enough for humans to breathe through, yet can still prevent sub-micron particles from filtering through them.
A melt-blown machine in action. Image by 4FFF - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
The machine line required to produce melt-blown fabric isn't terribly expensive by industrial standards; they're in the $4-million range. But creating the machines in the first place is another matter. As Reuters reports:
A melt-blown production line by U.S.-based manufacturer Catbridge.
A melt-blown production line by U.S.-based manufacturer Catbridge.
The scarcity of machines means that existing melt-blown material has become absurdly expensive:
Unless someone can figure out how to produce these machines both precisely and quickly (China is trying), we can expect the mask shortage to continue. Because the machines are so time-consuming to make, it appears no flood of funding can ramp up production.
And if there's a material scientist or inventor out there who's been sitting on another, equally viable production method, I'd say that person is about to become very rich.
Why not just use felt? It might be a little heavier to get adequate filtration, but it could work fine in a pinch. It's also a non woven fabric. But the big thing about those machines is their ability to make of amounts of cheap fabric so it's cost effective as a DISPOSABLE item. But once their cost skyrockets or especially if it doesn't meet demand in a crisis. Then many other materials become viable & maybe even competitive, at least in the short term.
I’m a lapsed industrial designer. I was born in NYC and figured I’d die there, but a few years ago I abandoned New York to live on a farm in the countryside with my wife. We have six dogs.
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