Everything You Need to Know About Sticky Mats
Even with the strictest personal protective equipment (PPE) protocols in place, your cleanroom can still do battle with dust and particulates brought in by feet and carts. The solution is to catch the invaders at the door so they don’t come any farther into the room. At Medco Supplies, we offer Cleantack Step One™ cleanroom sticky floor mats to help keep your sterile space dirt-free.
What Are Sticky Mats?
Sticky mats—also known as adhesive mats, essential mats and tacky mats—are placed at the cleanroom door to capture any lingering particles as your team enters and leaves their cleanroom workspace.
These cleanroom essential mats, treated with an anti-microbial agent, have 30 layers of adhesive-coated polyethylene film that remove loose particles from shoes. As the top layer becomes dirty, it can be carefully removed to expose a fresh, contaminate-free sheet. The cleanroom adhesive mat can be mounted on a mat base and can be moved, as needed, or fixed to the floor at the entrance of the cleanroom.
Placing Adhesive Mats
You may be wondering where is the best place to put your sticky mat for the best cleanroom coverage. Depending on how much traffic and particulate matter comes through the area, you may want to start with an adhesive mat in the hallway door, then adding a mat to the gowning area, the staging area door, and then another inside the cleanroom entry door.
Cleanroom adhesive mats work best if they are big enough to cover the entire foot and the wheels of any carts that are brought in. Many prefer to run these essential mats vertically so a couple steps can be caught, but others place the tacky mats horizontally to ensure cart wheels are covered.
Before placing your cleanroom sticky mat, be sure the floor is cleaned. Use an alcohol and deionized water mixture of 70:30 to clean the floor completely. If there is adhesive on the floor from a previous tacky mat, be sure to clean it off completely.
Refreshing Adhesive Mats
When the cleanroom tacky mat has seen about 50 entrances and exits from the cleanroom, it will look dirty. Simply remove the top layer by slowly peeling and folding it in to retain the particulates for disposal. This will expose a fresh sheet of contaminate-free adhesive. Layers are numbered so you know when to order a replacement cleanroom adhesive mat from Medco Supplies.
Sticky mats are available from Medco Supplies in a variety of sizes and colors for your convenience. When you first order, match the size to the mat base and then you’re ready to quickly install and use these cleanroom essential mats in your sterile workspace.
