Army laboratory tests for the best homemade face covering materials
Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md — When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Defense, and many state government began recommending or requiring that people wear face coverings when out in public and unable to maintain proper social distancing, the Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) Chemical Biological Center put more than 100 years of filtration experience to use in testing materials for homemade masks.
Since the COVID-19 epidemic began, the Center has been contacted by dozens of defense agencies, federal agencies and health organizations to see if its experts can help with the national shortage of personal protective equipment. The Center is one of only a handful of agencies that is experienced in performing tests that precisely measure materials’ filtration efficiencies in strict accordance with National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) standards. It is also one of a very few organizations that have the TSI Model 8130 Automated Filter Tester. So the Center was the obvious choice to perform this research.
