Cleanroom suits are your main barrier between your body and the controlled environment you work in. Regardless if you work in a cGMP pharmaceutical manufacturer or a microelectronics manufacturing facility, your cleanroom suit is the main garment you wear while working. Depending on the cleanliness level required in your clean room, certain lint-free materials are compatible while some shed micron size particles that cannot be tolerated. The first step to find out the correct clean room suit for your application is speaking with your cleanroom manager and getting the ISO class of your facility so you can choose the right apparel material. The ISO class also helps you determine the right wipes, masks and other cleanroom supplies you will need.
Styles Of Cleanroom Suits Available
Cleanroom suits are available with an attached hood and boot covers. They are also available with elastic wrists and ankles for those people that want to wear a separate shoe covers and wear a bouffant or separate hood. The main goal of wearing cleanroom coveralls and suits are to cover your skin and street clothes with a non-shedding barrier that will block your skin cells and lint etc from entering the critical environment. The material the suit is made of will determine the amount of loose particles or lint will be released from the suit as you work. Different materials have varying “cleanliness” and “lint-free” levels. Cleanroom Connection normally sends it’s customers 3-4 different sample suits to evaluate which really helps make the right decision.
Lint-Free Materials Used On Cleanroom Suits
The most popular materials used to make cleanroom apparel are Tyvek, MP microporous-coated, SMS tri-laminate and polypropylene. Tyvek being the cleanest and polypropylene being the least clean, the materials follow that order in cost and cleanliness level. Tyvek is usually the preferred material due to its lightweight, high-breathability, and superior protection against liquid and dry particles. MP micro-porous coated cleanroom apparel looks and feels very similar to Tyvek and is often referred to as “Tyvek alternative”. The differences you will notice between Tyvek and microporous-coated is the MP is slightly heavier and slightly less breathable. The lower cost of MP sometimes is more attractive than being slightly cooler while SMS tri-laminate suits have a fabric like feel and are very breathable. However, these suits are not as clean as the smooth Tyvek suits or microporous-coated suits. SMS is suitable for cleanroom ISO levels of 6+ and not for Class 100 ISO5 environments. The final cleanroom suit material is polypropylene. These suits are only suitable for more industrial clean rooms having an ISO level of 8+ (10,000-100,000).
Cleanroom Connection will help you every step of the way in choosing all your cleanroom suits and related products. Call toll-free 800 616 5319.