| abstract |
The foldable personal mask is manufactured from a rigid filtration panel joined to the rest of the mask via at least one border. The panel comprises a porous, single component, single layer nonwoven web comprising polymer fibers of the same polymer composition that are charged, blended, and continuous, the web having a web greater than 200 mg It has Gurley stiffness and the mask has sufficient basis weight or interfiber bond to show a pressure drop less than 0.19 kPa (20 mm H 2 O). The mask of the present invention can be formed without the use of additional reinforcing layers, bicomponent fibers, or other reinforcing members, and can be folded flat for storage. It is possible to reuse the scrap resulting from the manufacturing process to produce additional rigid filter panel webs. |