AAAR 33rd Annual Conference
October 20 - October 24, 2014
Rosen Shingle Creek
Orlando, Florida, USA
Abstract View
Characterization of Aerosols Generated from Stainless Steel Plasma Cutting
JUN WANG, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
Abstract Number: 204 Working Group: Aerosol Exposure
Abstract Plasma cutting is a common metal machining process using an electric arc to cut metals. Metal is melted in the process by the plasma generated from inert gas/air out of the nozzle. Due to the extremely high temperature, components in the metal being cut may vaporize and transform to aerosols. Stainless steel is an alloy contains toxic metal such as chromium, nickel, and manganese. The health effects of inhaling stainless steel plasma cutting fume may include inflammatory, carcinogenesis, and neurological disorder. The objective of this study is to investigate the physical and chemical characteristics of aerosols emitted from stainless steel plasma cutting process. A 30-inch conical chamber was built to confine the metal fume generated by plasma cutting. A high capacity plasma cutter was used to cut 3/16 inch grade 316 stainless steel plates inside the chamber. The metal fume was collected on glass fibers filters using a high flow pump mounted on top of the chamber. Fume generation rate (milligram fume per seconds of arc time) was gravimetrically measured using a microbalance. The filters were cut to halves. Hexavalent chromium content in the fume was extracted from one half filter and analyzed by an ion chromatograph following NIOSH method 7605. The other half will be acid digested and the total metal concentration in the fume will be measured using an inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy following NIOSH method 7300. Particle size distribution of the aerosols inside the chamber was measured by a scanning mobility particle sizer and an aerodynamic particle sizer over the range of nanometer to micron. Particle morphology will be examined by a scanning electron microscope. The full results will be reported at the conference. The study will help better understand the workers’ occupational exposure in metal industry.