Hill W Cary, Korchevskiy Andrey
ITA International, LLC, Blacksburg, VA, United States.
Chemistry and Industrial Hygiene, Inc., Arvada, CO, United States.
Front Public Health. 2025 Apr 9;13:1582690. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1582690. eCollection 2025.
Advanced manufacturing devices such as 3D printers bring users into closer contact with processes that generate ultrafine particles or release engineered nanomaterials. While approaches to assessing the risk of lung carcinogenesis and related health effects are developing, serious questions exist regarding the impact such devices may have on human health and safety if proper actions (i.e., engineering controls including ventilation or filtration) are not taken to mitigate exposures. The size distribution of particulates emitted during fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing was measured following the ANSI/CAN/UL 2904 method and associated lung cancer risk was estimated through a developing model. Particulate morphologies were assessed, identifying agglomerative and morphological characteristics which may further impact health effects. The estimation of excess lung cancer risk for 3D printer emissions based upon particle size was found to vary according to aerodynamic diameter distribution and emitted concentration, with values projected as high as 468 cases per 10,000 workers in the measured exposure scenario (1 m enclosure with air fully exchanged once per hour); predicted excess lung cancer risk was found to drop significantly as print extrusion temperature decreased. Actual health impacts will depend highly upon the exposure scenario, as room air volume, ventilation, and number of printers in operation will impact the concentration of particulates present. This model provides a means for assessing excess lung cancer risk across a broad aerodynamic diameter distribution, improving resolution over methods that use a single particle size bin such as PM2.5 or PM10. The effects of particle composition are only anecdotally considered in this model, however; this limitation should be accommodated as the model is implemented in practical settings.
诸如3D打印机之类的先进制造设备使用户更近距离地接触到产生超细颗粒或释放工程纳米材料的过程。虽然评估肺癌发生风险及相关健康影响的方法正在不断发展，但如果不采取适当措施（即包括通风或过滤在内的工程控制措施）来减轻暴露，那么此类设备可能对人类健康和安全产生的影响仍存在严重问题。按照美国国家标准学会/加拿大国家标准协会/美国保险商试验所2904方法，对熔融沉积建模（FDM）3D打印过程中排放的颗粒物尺寸分布进行了测量，并通过一个正在开发的模型估算了相关的肺癌风险。对颗粒物形态进行了评估，确定了可能进一步影响健康效应的团聚和形态特征。结果发现，基于粒径对3D打印机排放物导致的肺癌超额风险的估计会因空气动力学直径分布和排放浓度而有所不同，在所测量的暴露场景（每小时空气完全交换一次的1立方米封闭空间）中，预计每10000名工人中高达468例；随着打印挤出温度降低，预计的肺癌超额风险显著下降。实际的健康影响将高度取决于暴露场景，因为室内空气体积、通风情况以及运行中的打印机数量都会影响颗粒物的浓度。该模型提供了一种手段，可在较宽的空气动力学直径分布范围内评估肺癌超额风险，比使用单一粒径区间（如PM2.5或PM10）的方法具有更高的分辨率。然而，该模型仅从传闻角度考虑了颗粒成分的影响；在实际应用该模型时应考虑到这一局限性。
