ASTM F1671/F1671M-13
Standard Test Method for Resistance of Materials Used in Protective Clothing to Penetration by Blood-Borne Pathogens Using Phi-X174 Bacteriophage Penetration as a Test System

Standard No.

ASTM F1671/F1671M-13

Release Date

2013

Published By

American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)

Status

Be replaced

Replace By

ASTM F1671/F1671M-22

Latest

ASTM F1671/F1671M-22

Scope

5.1 This test method is based on Test Method F903 for measuring resistance of chemical protective clothing materials to penetration by liquids. This test method is normally used to evaluate specimens from individual finished items of protective clothing and individual samples of materials that are candidates for items of protective clothing.

5.1.1 Finished items of protective clothing include gloves, arm shields, aprons, gowns, coveralls, hoods, and boots.

5.1.2 The phrase “specimens from finished items” encompasses seamed and other discontinuous regions, as well as the usual continuous regions of protective clothing items.

5.2 It is known that body fluids penetrating protective clothing materials are likely to carry microbiological contaminants; however, visual detection methods are not sensitive enough to detect minute amounts of liquid containing microorganisms (1,2,3).⁸ This test method uses media containing Phi-X174 Bacteriophage. The visual detection technique of this test method is supplemented with a biologically based assay capable of detecting virus under the specified test conditions.

5.3 Test Method F1670, allows the screening of protective clothing materials for resistance to penetration with synthetic blood as a challenge liquid. Test Method F1670 uses the same penetration test cell and technique, but exposes material specimens to synthetic blood with visual detection of liquid penetration. Materials passing Test Method F1670 should then be tested against bacteriophage penetration using this test method to verify performance.

5.4 This test method has been specifically designed for measuring penetration of a surrogate microbe for Hepatitis (B and C) and the Human Immunodeficiency Viruses. The surrogate, Phi-X174 Bacteriophage, used in this test method is similar to HCV in size and shape but also serves as a surrogate for HBV and HIV. Inferences about protection from other pathogens must be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

5.5 Part of the protocol in Procedure A and B in Table 1, for exposing the protective clothing material specimens to the Phi-X174 Bacteriophage challenge suspension, involves pressurization of the penetration cell to 13.8 kPa [2 psig]. This hydrostatic pressure has been documented to discriminate between protective clothing material performance and correlate with visual penetration results that are obtained with a human factors validation (4). Some studies, however, suggest that me......

ASTM F1671/F1671M-13 Referenced Document

• ASTM D1331 Standard Test Methods for Surface and Interfacial Tension of Solutions of Surface-Active Agents
• ASTM D1777 Standard Test Method for Thickness of Textile Materials
• ASTM D3776 Standard Test Methods for Mass Per Unit Area (Weight) of Fabric
• ASTM D3862 Standard Test Method for Retention Characteristics of 0.2-181m Membrane Filters Used in Routine Filtration Procedures for the Evaluation of Microbiological Water Quality
• ASTM E105 Standard Practice for Probability Sampling Of Materials
• ASTM E171 Standard Specification for Standard Atmospheres for Conditioning and Testing Flexible Barrier Materials
• ASTM F1670 Standard Test Method for Resistance of Materials Used in Protective Clothing to Penetration by Synthetic Blood
• ASTM F903 Standard Test Method for Resistance of Materials Used in Protective Clothing to Penetration by Liquids
• ISO 2859-1 Sampling procedures for inspection by attributes - Part 1: Sampling schemes indexed by acceptance quality limit (AQL) for lot-by-lot inspection; Technical Corrigendum 1

ASTM F1671/F1671M-13 history

• 2022 ASTM F1671/F1671M-22 Standard Test Method for Resistance of Materials Used in Protective Clothing to Penetration by Blood-Borne Pathogens Using Phi-X174 Bacteriophage Penetration as a Test System
• 2013 ASTM F1671/F1671M-13 Standard Test Method for Resistance of Materials Used in Protective Clothing to Penetration by Blood-Borne Pathogens Using Phi-X174 Bacteriophage Penetration as a Test System
• 2007 ASTM F1671-07 Standard Test Method for Resistance of Materials Used in Protective Clothing to Penetration by Blood-Borne Pathogens Using Phi-X174 Bacteriophage Penetration as a Test System
• 2003 ASTM F1671-03 Standard Test Method for Resistance of Materials Used in Protective Clothing to Penetration by Blood-Borne Pathogens Using Phi-X174 Bacteriophage Penetration as a Test System
• 1997 ASTM F1671-97b Standard Test Method for Resistance of Materials Used in Protective Clothing to Penetration by Blood-Borne Pathogens Using Phi-X174 Bacteriophage Penetration as a Test System