Effects of electrostatic charge on aerosol collection with polystyrene filter cassettes.

Electrostatic fields are present on polystyrene cassette filter holders commonly used to measure the concentration of particles in air. Beryllium concentrations were determined at a beryllium refinery using neutral, and positively and negatively charged cassettes. In laboratory experiments, tobacco smoke, magnetite and polyvinyltoluene latex spheres were collected by both charged and neutral cassettes. No differences in concentration measurements were observed in the experiments at the refinery. In the laboratory experiments, the concentration of a charged negative aerosol collected by a highly charged negative cassette was reduced. Thus, when collecting charged aerosols, the polystyrene cassettes should be charge neutralized.