Engineering laminated paper for SARS-CoV-2 medical gowns

Laila Hossain; Maisha Maliha; Ruth Barajas-Ledesma; Jinhee Kim; Kevin Putera; Dinesh Subedi; Joanne Tanner; Jeremy J Barr; Mark M Banaszak Holl; Gil Garnier

doi:10.1016/j.polymer.2021.123643

Engineering laminated paper for SARS-CoV-2 medical gowns

Polymer (Guildf). 2021 Apr 22:222:123643. doi: 10.1016/j.polymer.2021.123643. Epub 2021 Mar 19.

Authors

Laila Hossain^{1

2}, Maisha Maliha^{1

2}, Ruth Barajas-Ledesma^{1

2}, Jinhee Kim², Kevin Putera², Dinesh Subedi³, Joanne Tanner^{1

2}, Jeremy J Barr³, Mark M Banaszak Holl², Gil Garnier^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Bioresource Processing Research Institute of Australia (BioPRIA), Australia.
² Department of Chemical Engineering, Monash University, VIC, 3800, Australia.
³ School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, VIC, 3800, Australia.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for diversity in the market and alternative materials for personal protective equipment (PPE). Paper has high coatability for tunable barrier performance, and an agile production process, making it a potential substitute for polyolefin-derived PPE materials. Bleached and newsprint papers were laminated with polyethylene (PE) coatings of different thicknesses, and characterised for their potential use as medical gowns for healthcare workers and COVID-19 patients. Thicker PE lamination improved coating homogeneity and water vapour resistance. 49 GSM bleached paper with 16 GSM PE coating showed high tensile and seam strength, and low water vapour transmission rate (WVTR). Phi-X174 bacteriophage testing revealed that paper laminated with 15 GSM coating hinders virus penetration. This research demonstrates that PE laminated paper is a promising material for low cost viral protective gowns.

Keywords: Barrier material; COVID-19; Coating morphology; Medical gown; PE laminated Paper; Virus protection.