To combat the spread of COVID-19, Department of Textile Engineering University of Engineering and Technology Lahore Faisalabad Campus (UET-FSD) produced cost and performance effective bio based anti-bacterial face-masks under the supervision of worthy Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Syed Mansoor Sarwar.
The project lead scientist was Dr Muhammad Mohsin, Chairman, Department of Textile Engineering, UET-FSD campus including team members Shakeel and Imran Shahid. These masks were produced with specific polypropylene non-woven fabric as per the recommendation of World Health Organization (WHO). The key properties of the face-mask include air permeability, thickness, tensile strength, water repellent; tear strength and microscopic analysis as per international standards. In addition, the mask has the three pleats for comfort and better fitting.
All the development and testing steps of the whole project were carried out at the state of the art lab facilities of UET textile department. The whole team worked tirelessly on this project despite the holidays at the university and completed the project in record 8 days. However, the cost of mask per piece is approximately Rs. 9, which is extremely low as compared to current price of five to nine times for similar face mask quality but without additional vital anti-microbial performance.
Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Syed Mansoor Sarwar said that UET being the oldest engineering institute of Pakistan has always contributed to the country’s development and willing to further support the government of Pakistan in developing cost and performance effective bio based anti-bacterial face-masks for combating the Corona virus (COVID-19) crisis situation.