Buyer Beware Of 3-D Printer Emissions
Source: Chemical & Engineering News, January 25, 2016Author: Jyllian Kemsley
As
costs of three-dimensional printers drop and the devices increasingly
make their way into offices, schools, and homes, users should consider
how to limit exposure to emissions of particles and gases in the space
where the printer is located. This caution stems from research by a team
led by Brent Stephens
of Illinois Institute of Technology and Neil E. Crain of the University
of Texas, Austin ... . The researchers tested the emissions of five
commercially available desktop 3-D polymer-extrusion printers for
ultrafine particles, which have a diameter less than 100 nm, and
volatile organic compounds, including caprolactam and styrene. They
used the printers to make a standard part from nine different polymer
filament starting materials. The emissions varied more by the type of
material than they did by the type of printer. Modeling the emissions
in a 45 m3 air-conditioned office, the team predicts that
caprolactam and styrene would reach concentrations that could be
harmful to health.
Read more...See original article in Environmental Science & Technology, "Emissions of Ultrafine Particles and Volatile Organic Compounds from Commercially Available Desktop Three-Dimensional Printers with Multiple Filaments".
