(1/n) What does cotton-candy machine, van de graaff generator & COVID19 have in common? Here we present a possible solution for distributed, small scale manufacturing of N95 material for communities that can not source pre-approved masks. Pre print: arxiv.org/abs/2004.13494 
(2/n) Disclaimer: If you have access to an authentic N95 mask, that is the best possible solution. But majority of parts around the world, N95 supplies have never existed. How can we boot-strap and support small scale manufacturing capacity for this critical supply locally?
(3/n) Our journey began a month ago when we had first shared results on use of cotton-candy machine to spin polypropylene fibers:
Only possible because of incredible students Anton Molina, @Pranavvyas94 @nikitakhlystov and co-authors.
Only possible because of incredible students Anton Molina, @Pranavvyas94 @nikitakhlystov and co-authors.
(4/n) The vision is to enable bottom up distributed capacity to produce something close enough to an N95 mask; literally in the middle of no-where (viruses knows no boundaries). We demonstrate table top setup to make 96% filtration efficiency material; 10K masks per day.
(5/n) We still have more work to do to improve breathability & alternate compaction methods - but we already are far better than things health care workers are being forced to consider (T-shirts, Bandannas). See Low and high MW CMS plots. We still have to reach the optimal rpm.
(6/n) We will put together how to guides on quality control, low cost filtration efficiency tests, assembly of the apparatus. We will work with serious manufacturers who would like to follow local regulatory rules for PPE manufacturing in EUA context. Here is a glimpse of the vid
(7/n) If you have not dis-assembled your cotton-candy machine yet; please do take a close look. It's an incredibly designed machine - we have 5 of them in the lab now for reliability testing.
(8/n) In order to get the polypropylene to actually melt - the cotton-candy machine has beautiful carbon brushes to get power to the coils. If I may say so, these machines are quite beautiful..
(9/n) For others thinking about alternatives to N95 materials; we will also release several low-cost easy to put together measurement setups soon. But you can already get started here. Low cost filtration measurement enables local quality control. More on that soon..
(10/n) COVID19 has made us all rethink what works and what does not! The medical problems we are all thinking about are daily reality of many health care workers in resource poor settings. I hope this crisis will bring solutions to everyone, irrespective of national borders.
(11/n) Finally, this mad dash to solutions would not be possible without a stellar group of students and postdocs; a few listed earlier and also @shailabhk Anesta, @davederiso Zhiru, Samhita and @Eliott_Flaum - hats off for tackling every possible challenge in inventors codebook
(12/n) To reiterate - this is not a regulatory approved solution as yet. I believe it is a step in the right direction. We are partnering with communities - please reach us if you would like to engage or follow the project here: docs.google.com/document/d/1aA…
