The pandemic has profoundly changed all areas of society: it has affected the way we relate to others, communicate, educate ourselves and work. In this context, many economic sectors have had to stop suddenly and for an indefinite period of time.
The events sector stands out among these, as it is considered one of the most risky due to the spread of the virus. Many companies involved have stopped, but others have found in reconversion and innovation an opportunity for growth. Sicura is one of the best examples in this case. It was born from an idea of Sonia Del Freo, owner of the Altrieventi agency, an entrepreneur with twenty years of experience in the organization of events, who already at the beginning of the emergency understood that the sector would be among the first to stop. She therefore thought to find an imminent solution. In a few weeks, he started a new company for the production of masks and safety devices. About a year later, Sicura Mascherine is one of the leading manufacturers in Tuscany. The masks are made entirely in Italy, in the factories of Montignoso. The work is the result of careful research into the best materials available on the market and the techniques used to create them: the result is a protective device, consisting of three layers and high filtering power, with CE certification.
Technical features of Sicura masks: the meltblown
Sicura surgical masks are made of three layers of Non woven, commonly known as TNT (Non Woven Fabric). Two types of nonwoven are used in the mask: meltblown and spunbond. The two materials have distinct conformation and functionality.
The meltblown forms the middle layer and acts as a filter, that is, it is the barrier to virus and bacteria particles.
Sicura produce tre tipi di mascherina chirurgica, ed entrambi rispettano la normativa europea EN14683:2019:
- Le mascherine chirurgiche di tipo I garantiscono un grado di filtrazione (BFE) maggiore del 95%
- Le mascherine di tipo II arrivano a filtrare più del 99% del virus
- Le mascherine IIr oltre a filtrare più del 99% di batteri, sono resistenti agli spruzzi e quindi indicate in ambito medico
Ma non è finita qui: per renderla ancora più sicura ed efficace, la mascherina è costruita da altri due strati, uno a contatto con il viso ed uno esterno, realizzati in spunbond.
Fonte foto: Sicura Mascherine
Caratteristiche delle mascherine Sicura: lo spunbond
I due strati di spunbond, uno a contatto con il viso e uno esterno, hanno lo scopo di trattenere l’umidità in entrata e in uscita.
Lo spunbond è un TNT che rende la mascherina impermeabile e trattiene l’umidità proveniente dal respiro. Quindi se lo strato intermedio filtra, gli altri due trattengono l’umidità e hanno una certa resistenza verso l’esterno.
Grazie a queste proprietà, viene usato per bloccare l’umidità del respiro, ma anche eventuali sostanze organiche provenienti dall’esterno, incluse le famose droplet, ovvero le gocce di saliva, veicolo del Covid-19.
Le mascherine Sicura vengono testate continuamente per provare la capacità di filtraggio e la resistenza a sostanze organiche esterne. In this regard, the splash test is performed on the brand’s masks.
The test, carried out by the University of Bologna, is used to verify the resistance of the mask to potential blood splashes and is therefore useful when the device is used in health care. During the control, unique in Italy, a substance chemically similar to blood is sprayed on the external layer of the mask, which is then disassembled and the extent to which the substance has gone down is assessed. This is just one of the controls to which Sicura products are subjected: the aim is to provide customers with safe and reliable protection against the virus.
Thus the masks composed of three SMS layers, i.e. integrating Spunbond, Meltblown and Spunbond again, were born.
The technologies used in the company
The evolution of the company has happened quickly. The idea of producing masks came in March 2020, when in Italy this good was produced by few industries. In a few weeks, Sicura implemented its two sanitized and automated production lines, capable of constantly producing 80 to 100 masks per minute each.
Everything is created in Italy, where the products are tested, in order to obtain the CE certification. This means that the masks respect European standards and have a certain origin, the result of a local and largely artisanal work.
Today there are 12 employees and the factory produces about 70.
The factory produces about 70,000 pieces per week, which corresponds to the needs of the Province of Massa Carrara and therefore would fall within the concept, which is spreading in recent weeks of “zero kilometer mask”.
The masks are supplied to other companies (especially industries in the food and health sector) and sold online through e-commerce, accessible from the website Sicura Mascherine.