NTS Delivers Mask Testing to Support Front Line Medical Workers

NTS designed a specific test fixture to accommodate a mask testing requested by one of the world’s largest healthcare company. The healthcare provider was looking to purchase large quantities of high quality, disposable isolation face masks to protect clinicians from the larger respiratory droplets, splashes and germ particles that can carry and spread the coronavirus. To assess the performance of different face mask brands, NTS’s laboratory in Anaheim, CA—one of the NTS’s 28 laboratories in North America—delivered vital information to protect front line medical workers.“We set up a fixture to simulate putting on and taking off a mask, and to gauge at what tension the straps would break,” said Russell Shepherd, General Manager of NTS Anaheim, “A servo motor pulley system was adapted to simulate consistent strap pulling for the cyclic masks testing. The 4201 Instron with a 25 pound load cell was used to pull each strap individually to conduct the necessary load testing.”In just one week, NTS produced accurate testing results of nearly a dozen face mask brands to inform to inform the healthcare giant decision of which face mask to purchase in bulk. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact communities across the nation, Shepherd and his team at NTS were more than ready to commit to assisting healthcare customer in the endeavor. “We are honored to be an essential supplier to anyone and everyone battling this virus.”