"Worst case" aerosol testing parameters: II. Efficiency dependence of commercial respirator filters on humidity pretreatment.

Previous studies have shown that relative humidity has a degrading effect on the performance of commercially available particulate air-purifying respirator filters. That degradation results from a reduction of charge within the filter. This study was done to evaluate the time-dependent effects of relative humidity pretreatment and the reduction of charge on filter penetration against a most penetrating, "worst case" aerosol challenge. Filters of the dust and mist; dust, fume, and mist; paint, lacquer, and enamel mist; and high efficiency types were tested after being pretreated in an environment of 38 degrees C and 85% relative humidity for periods up to 42 days. After various intervals of pretreatment (1, 7, 14, 28, and 42 days), the filters were tested against neutralized worst-case sodium chloride (NaCl) and dioctyl phthalate (DOP) aerosols for percent penetration. The results showed a drop in filter efficiency of approximately 2%-6% depending on preconditioning time, except for the high efficiency filters tested which showed no detectable change.