Big Blue Blog - Reusable Cleanroom Clothing, Cleanroom Fabrics

Diagram of fabric laminated from 3 layers.

A membrane containing pores of known size is commonly used as part of the laminate construction. PTFE is commonly used as part of the laminate construction. PTFE is a commonly used membrane material and laminated fabrics of this type have become popular in the manufacture of rain-proof clothing.

The pores in the membrane are normally less than 1 micrometre in size and so act as a very effective particle barrier whilst still allowing air and moisture vapour to pass through.

By laminating a coating or membrane to a cleanroom filament fabric very effective control of particulate can be achieved in high grade cleanroom operations whilst still giving acceptable wearer comfort.

These types of fabric can also be used when a waterproof cleanroom garment is required although this will also require additional stages in garment manufacturing such as seam taping.

Air cannot easily pass through contamination control fabrics however and any cleanroom garment must have tight fitting closures at the garment opening e.g. neck, to produce an effective seal and prevent particles being pumped out by the movement of air trapped inside the garment.

Laminated fabrics cannot be washed and dried by a cleanroom laundry at high temperature and so it Is not possible to achieve thermal disinfection. These fabrics will also break down or de-laminate with repeated sterilisation cycles by autoclave or gamma irradiation. Laminated contamination control fabrics are more expensive than other types of fabric and although very effective have not been widely used in cleanroom manufacture with the exception of some high-grade microelectronics areas.