ALGORITMI Research Center/LASI, University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal.
CATIM-Technological Center for the Metal Working Industry, 4100-414 Porto, Portugal.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jan 31;20(3):2519. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20032519.
The benefits of metal 3D printing seem unquestionable. However, this additive manufacturing technology brings concerns to occupational safety and health professionals, since recent studies show the existence of airborne nanomaterials in these workplaces. This article explores different approaches to manage the risk of exposure to these incidental nanomaterials, on a case study conducted in a Portuguese organization using Selective Laser Melting (SLM) technology. A monitoring campaign was performed using a condensation particle counter, a canning mobility particle sizer and air sampling for later scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis, proving the emission of nano-scale particles and providing insights on number particle concentration, size, shape and chemical composition of airborne matter. Additionally, Control Banding Nanotool v2.0 and Stoffenmanager Nano v1.0 were applied in this case study as qualitative tools, although designed for engineered nanomaterials. This article highlights the limitations of using these quantitative and qualitative approaches when studying metal 3D Printing workstations. As a result, this article proposes the IN Nanotool, a risk management method for incidental nanomaterials designed to overcome the limitations of other existing approaches and to allow non-experts to manage this risk and act preventively to guarantee the safety and health conditions of exposed workers.
金属 3D 打印的好处似乎毋庸置疑。然而，这种增材制造技术引起了职业安全与健康专业人员的关注，因为最近的研究表明，在这些工作场所存在空气中的纳米材料。本文探讨了在葡萄牙的一家使用选择性激光熔化 (SLM) 技术的组织中，管理接触这些偶然纳米材料风险的不同方法。通过使用凝结核计数器、罐式气流粒子计数器和空气取样进行监测活动，对扫描电子显微镜和能量色散 X 射线分析进行了后期分析，证明了纳米级颗粒的排放，并提供了关于空气中颗粒浓度、尺寸、形状和化学成分的见解。此外，Control Banding Nanotool v2.0 和 Stoffenmanager Nano v1.0 也被应用于本案例研究中，尽管它们是为工程纳米材料设计的，但只是定性工具。本文强调了在研究金属 3D 打印工作站时使用这些定量和定性方法的局限性。因此，本文提出了 IN Nanotool，这是一种针对偶然纳米材料的风险管理方法，旨在克服其他现有方法的局限性，并允许非专家来管理这种风险并采取预防性措施，以保证暴露工人的安全和健康状况。
