Environ Sci Technol. 2019 Dec 3;53(23):13618-13628. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.9b05317. Epub 2019 Nov 21.
Many studies exist that characterize the aerosol emissions from fused filament fabrication three-dimensional (3D) printers. However, nanocluster aerosol (NCA) particles, that is particles in a size range under 3 nm, are rarely studied. The purpose of this study was to characterize the NCA emissions and the contribution of NCA to the total particle number emissions from a 3D printer. We used a particle size magnifier and a scanning mobility particle sizer to measure the time evolution of particle size distribution, which was used to calculate the average NCA emission rates during a printer operation in a chamber. The NCA emission rates ranged from 1.4 × 10 to 7.3 × 10 s depending on the applied combination of filament material and nozzle temperature, showing increasing emission with increasing temperature. The NCA emissions constitute from 9 to 48% of the total emissions, that is, almost half of the particle emissions may have been previously neglected. Therefore, it is essential to include the low NCA size range in, for example, future 3D-printer-testing protocols, emission measurement standards, and risk management measures.
许多研究都对熔融沉积制造三维（3D）打印机的气溶胶排放进行了描述。然而，纳米团簇气溶胶（NCA）粒子，即尺寸在 3nm 以下的粒子，很少被研究。本研究的目的是描述 NCA 的排放情况，以及 NCA 对 3D 打印机总颗粒物排放的贡献。我们使用粒径扩大仪和扫描迁移率颗粒粒径仪来测量粒径分布的时间演变，这用于计算在腔室内打印机运行期间的平均 NCA 排放速率。NCA 的排放速率范围为 1.4×10 至 7.3×10 s，具体取决于所用丝材材料和喷嘴温度的组合，显示出随着温度升高排放增加。NCA 的排放量占总排放量的 9%至 48%，也就是说，几乎一半的颗粒物排放以前可能被忽视了。因此，在未来的 3D 打印机测试协议、排放测量标准和风险管理措施中，纳入低 NCA 尺寸范围至关重要。
