AAAR 37th Annual Conference October 14 - October 18, 2019 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon, USA
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The Characterization of Emissions from Sawing and Sanding Corian®, a Solid-Surface Composite Material
Seungkoo Kang, CHAOLONG QI, NIOSH
Abstract Number: 20 Working Group: Health-Related Aerosols
Abstract We conducted laboratory tests to characterize composition of emissions from sawing and sanding Corian®, a solid surface composite material composed of acrylic polymer and alumina trihydrate (ATH). The test system enables automatic sawing and sanding of Corian® board repeatedly in an enclosed chamber and taking representative air samples in a duct downstream of the chamber. The air samples were analyzed for both dust containing metal element contents (especially aluminum) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Three different sanding belts (ceramic, silicon carbide, and aluminum oxide with 120 grit) were tested to distinguish the contribution of aluminum-containing dust in the emission from Corian® and sanding belt itself. Airborne dust samples were collected using a Micro-Orifice Uniform Deposit Impactor (MOUDI), and the aluminum content of size-classified dust samples were analyzed. The analyses also included semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) in bulk and respirable dust samples as well as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) samples in the emission. The normalized respirable dust generation rate from MOUDI was 5.9, 24.0, 31.8, and 20.1 milligrams per gram (mg g-1) from sawing, sanding with silicone carbide, ceramic, and aluminum oxide, respectively, indicating that more dust became respirable during sanding. The ATH content of the dust was above 80% in most parts of the respirable size range from both sawing and sanding with all three types of sanding belts, suggesting that ATH is the dominant composition of the respirable dust and ATH was dominantly generated by Corian®. Finally, a small amount of methyl methacrylate (MMA) (0.55%) was found in the bulk dust but not in the respirable dust from the SVOC analysis. VOC analyses revealed that MMA was the most abundant compound in the vapor form, resulting in 0.0069% of the mass removed from sawing Corian® became MMA vapor. 0.0026%, 0.0028%, and 0.0022% of the mass removed from sanding Corian® became MMA vapor with ceramic, silicon carbide, and aluminum oxide belts, respectively, suggesting a lower generation rate of VOCs in sanding compared to sawing Corian®.