A Chemical, Physical and Biological Assay of Welding Fume. Part I: Fume Characteristics

摘要

The application of modern techniques to welding fume analysis shows that the material is generally composed of agglomerates of multiphase particles having chemical and physical properties which are very dependent on both the welding process, and the values of the process parameters. The fume particles are almost entirely respirable, contain a large fraction of crystalline material, and are enriched compared to the base material in volatile trace elements. The concept of 'hygienic engineering' is introduced whereby the techniques of microbiological, physical and chemical research are combined to identify the active agent(s) and to indicate changes in the welding consumables, process technology, or process parameters which will lead to a reduction of the mutagenic activity of the resulting welding fumes. Since such mutagenic activity can be directly related to the degree of cancer risk in humans, the introduction of such 'hygienic engineering' should permit the immediate improvement of industrial hygiene in the metal-working industry through the detection of potentially high risk processes, and their replacement with other, currently available, or specially developed techniques having well documented low biological risk.