A face shield, an item of

personal protective equipment Personal protective equipment (PPE) is protective clothing, helmets, goggles, or other garments or equipment designed to protect the wearer's body from injury or infection. The hazards addressed by protective equipment include physical, elect ...

, aims to protect the wearer's entire

face The face is the front of the head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affect th ...

(or part of it) from

hazard A hazard is a potential source of harm. Substances, events, or circumstances can constitute hazards when their nature would potentially allow them to cause damage to health, life, property, or any other interest of value. The probability of that ...

s such as flying objects and

road debris Road debris, a form of road hazard, is debris that accumulates on or off a road. Road debris includes substances, materials, and objects that are foreign to the normal roadway environment. Debris may be produced by vehicular or non-vehicular sour ...

, chemical splashes (in

laboratories A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which science, scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratories are found in a variety of settings such as s ...

or in

industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

), or potentially

infectious infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

materials (in

medical Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

and laboratory environments).

Applications

Medical

applications the device is used to protect a medical professional during a procedure that might expose them to

blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood is com ...

or other potentially infectious fluids or aerosols. An example is the use of a CPR mask while performing

rescue breathing Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, a form of artificial ventilation, is the act of assisting or stimulating respiration in which a rescuer presses their mouth against that of the victim and blows air into the person's lungs. Artificial respiration ta ...

CPR Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure used during cardiac or respiratory arrest that involves chest compressions, often combined with artificial ventilation, to preserve brain function and maintain circulation until sp ...

. Another example is the use of face shields to reduce the likelihood of inhaling potentially infectious bioaerosols.

Police and military

File:AssaultTraining2016-18.jpg, Russian combat engineer with a 6B47 helmet and ballistic face shield, alt= File:US Navy 060127-N-9641C-002 Chief Damage Controlman, John Brooks, removes the face shield from a Sailor's MCU-2-P gas mask.jpg, alt=text, Removing a face shield from a Sailor's MCU-2/P gas mask after washing it with decontamination solution during a General Quarters Drill aboard an aircraft carrier In

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of the government or other social institutions who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by investigating, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms gove ...

environments, a face shield may be designed for ballistic or non-ballistic protection. The non-ballistic shield will provide no protection from projectiles shot from firearms, but is usually designed to withstand low velocity impacts, like caused by punches or thrown objects. A ballistic face shield is designed to stop or deflect blast and fragments from operators wearing

bomb suit A bomb suit, Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) suit or a blast suit is a heavy suit of body armor designed to withstand the pressure generated by a bomb and any fragments the bomb may produce. It is usually worn by trained personnel attempting bo ...

s To protect the wearers eyes and face from ballistic threats in combat is envisioned in the

PEO Soldier Program Executive Office Soldier (PEO Soldier) or Team Soldier is a program executive office of the United States Army that is responsible for rapid prototyping, procurement, and fielding of equipment for the soldiers. History On 7 June 2002, ...

program for the United States Department of Defence.

Construction

A face shield is intended to protect the wearer's partial or entire face and the eyes from hazards. Face shields should be used with

spectacles Glasses, also known as eyeglasses (American English), spectacles (Commonwealth English), or colloquially as specs, are Visual perception, vision eyewear with clear or tinted lens (optics), lenses mounted in a frame that holds them in front ...

and/or

goggles Goggles, or safety glasses, are forms of protective eyewear that usually enclose or protect the area surrounding the eye in order to prevent particulates, water or chemicals from striking the eyes. They are used in chemistry laboratories and ...

. On many

construction sites Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the a ...

many workers use face shields to protect them from debris or sparks. Many tools for cutting and working with metal recommend the use of a face shield. Examples include welding equipment or metal chop saws.

Manufacturing

Two methods are used to manufacture face shields:

extrusion Extrusion is a process used to create objects of a fixed cross section (geometry), cross-sectional profile by pushing material through a Die (manufacturing), die of the desired cross-section. Its two main advantages over other manufacturing pro ...

and

injection molding Injection moulding (U.S. spelling: injection molding) is a manufacturing process for producing parts by injecting molten material into a mould, or mold. Injection moulding can be performed with a host of materials mainly including metals (for ...

. Face shields cut from extrusion sheets provide better

impact resistance In materials science and metallurgy, toughness is the ability of a material to absorb energy and plastically deform without fracturing.molecular weight A molecule is a group of two or more atoms that are held together by Force, attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions that satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemi ...

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic polymers, synthetic or Semisynthesis, semisynthetic materials composed primarily of Polymer, polymers. Their defining characteristic, Plasticity (physics), plasticity, allows them to be Injection moulding ...

pellets while injection molding must use lower molecular weight plastic pellets, which provide better melt flowing property needed by injection molding. Face shields can be made of

polycarbonate Polycarbonates (PC) are a group of thermoplastic polymers containing carbonate ester, carbonate groups in their chemical structures. Polycarbonates used in engineering are strong, toughness, tough materials, and some grades are optically transp ...

which provides excellent

impact resistance In materials science and metallurgy, toughness is the ability of a material to absorb energy and plastically deform without fracturing.heat resistance In heat transfer, thermal engineering, and thermodynamics, thermal conductance and thermal resistance are fundamental concepts that describe the ability of materials or systems to conduct heat and the opposition they offer to the heat current. ...

and normal

chemical resistance A chemical substance is a unique form of matter with constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Chemical substances may take the form of a single element or chemical compounds. If two or more chemical substances can be combine ...

. Or

cellulose acetate In biochemistry, cellulose acetate refers to any acetate ester of cellulose, usually cellulose diacetate. It was first prepared in 1865. A bioplastic, cellulose acetate is used as a film base in photography, as a component in some coatings, and ...

which provides normal impact resistance, optical quality, heat resistance and good chemical resistance. Face shields thick made of extrusion

sheets can withstand the impact of a nominal diameter steel ball traveling at the speed (European standard, protection against high-speed particles – medium energy impact), while injection molding face shields must have at least thickness to withstand the same impact. But injection molding can provide more complicated shape than extrusion. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, people from 86 countries engaged in the voluntary production of PPE to supplement traditional supply chains - many of which had been interrupted. They collectively produced a total of 25 million face shields with techniques including

3D printing 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer ...

Laser cutting Laser cutting is a technology that uses a laser to vaporize materials, resulting in a cut edge. While typically used for industrial manufacturing applications, it is now used by schools, small businesses, architecture, and hobbyists. Laser cutt ...

, in addition to injection molding. File:3D printing of face shields.jpg, 3D printing of face shields during COVID-19 pandemic File:Headpiece.stl, 3D file for printing a face shield File:Buckle.stl, Buckle for the face shield File:FaceShield3D20.jpg, Final shield

Standards

;

ANSI The American National Standards Institute (ANSI ) is a private nonprofit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States. The organiz ...

(American Standard) * Mark Z87: Basic impact: Faceshields shall be capable of resisting impact from a 25.4 mm (1 in) diameter steel ball dropped from a height of 127 cm (50 in). * Mark Z87+: High impact: Faceshields shall be capable of resisting impact from a 6.35 mm (0.25 in) diameter steel ball traveling at a velocity of 91.4 m/s (300 ft/s). ;

EN 166 EN 166:2001 ''Personal Eye-Protection - Specifications'' is a European standard. It concerns the area of eye protection Eye protection is protective gear for the eyes, and sometimes face, designed to reduce the risk of injury. Examples of risks ...

(European Standard) These shields are for protection against high-speed particles, and must withstand the impact of a 6 mm nominal diameter steel ball, striking the oculars and the lateral protection at the speed stated. * Mark A: * Mark B: . * Mark F: . ** ref. EN166 ; CSA (Canadian Standard) Z94.3-15 ''Eye and Face Protectors'' Class 6 relates to face shields, and is divided into 3 sub-classes *6A – Impact, piercing, splash, head, and glare protection. *6B – Radiation protection. Also for low heat, splash, glare, and light non-piercing impact protection. *6C – High-heat applications and light non-piercing impact protection only. **ref. CSA Z94.3-15

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Face Shield Bandy equipment Body armor Emergency medical equipment Headgear Ice hockey equipment Protective gear Safety clothing