Nickel release from nickel particles in artificial sweat.

Nickel is widely used in a broad range of products, primarily made of alloys, used by humans on a daily basis. Previous assessments have shown that skin contact with some such products may cause nickel allergic contact dermatitis, induced by the release of nickel. However, data on nickel release from small nickel particles in artificial sweat for assessment of potential risks of workers in nickel-producing and nickel-using facilities are not available. The objective of this study was to fill this knowledge gap by determining nickel release from fine nickel powder ( approximately 4 microm diameter) of different loadings varying from 0.1 to 5 mg/cm(2), when immersed in artificial sweat. The amount of nickel released increased with increasing particle loading, whereas the highest release rate per surface area of particles was observed for the medium particle loading, 1 mg/cm(2), at current experimental conditions. All particle loadings showed time-dependent release rates, reaching a relative steady-state level of less than 0.1 microg/cm(2)/hr after 12 hr of immersion, whereby less than 0.5% of the nickel particle loading was released. Nickel release from particles was influenced by the surface composition, the active surface area for corrosion, particle size, and loading.