Scientists and engineers at the University of Newcastle have teamed up to develop innovative new face masks in an attempt to address supply shortages of vital protective equipment across the Hunter and nationwide.
Physicists, engineers, designers, and health professionals worked together to create a product which met the needs of a healthcare sector critically challenged by COVID-19.
Professor Paul Dastoor, Director of the Centre for Organic Electronics, says the production of advanced medical devices and other technology was familiar territory for his team - but something which seems as relatively simple as manufacturing face masks was a change of pace.
"We normally make printed solar cells," said Professor Dastoor. "But the substrates that we print on are sheets of PET, a common plastic, which is ideally suited for face shields."
The face shields are made of laser-cut PET plastic, foam strips, and pieces of elastic, making them easy to assemble and even easier to manufacture quickly.
While around three-hundred of the masks are now in use on the front-line in the Hunter Region and beyond, the team already has orders for thousands more.
"That's culminated now in orders for nearly four-thousand face shields from our local health authority, and indeed other other hospitals now appear to be coming on board requesting further face shields."
While the team only intends to produce masks as a stop-gap until larger manufacturers can catch up to the demand, Professor Dastoor estimates there are enough supplies to produce at least ten-thousand face shields.
"Perhaps we'll have to make that, perhaps we won't. We're just manufacturing while there's a need."
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| Image credit: University of Newcastle |
