Air Particulates and 3D printing

Deadline for first draft: May 6!

• Hayden's device can sense down to 10 nanometers
• Results show a histogram of concentrations

Goals:

• Identify concentrations of particulates in equipment spaces within our maker space
• It would not be feasible to isolate a machine in order to gather data in our shops, so we would be quantifying particulate concentrations
• Compare different forms of ventilation (external ventilation on Jacobs lasers vs Invention Lab's internal filtered ventilation)

Next Steps:

• Find papers ✅ 2024-04-02
  • ideally find a gap in existing knowledge
• Connect with PhD student who has equipment, find out how reasonable it would be to use the sensor device
• Set parameters of which spaces to study and when
• Measure particles
• Manage Data

Potential areas of focus:

• Fortus
  • Prints ABS plastic, known to emit ultrafine particles (see research below). Has an enclosed, insulated build chamber. How well does this protect air around it?
• JPS Ultimaker banks (many printers, no enclosure)
• Woodshop
• ShopBot
• Laser cutters (Jacobs vs Invention Lab)
• FabLight (filtered extraction)

Questions to ask about 3D printers

• Does the printer have an enclosure
  • If enclosed, is it affected most when opening the chamber and cleaning/removing parts?
• How much is the air affected while printing?
• If it does pollute the air, how long does it stick around for?

Other papers:

• Emission profiles of volatiles during 3D printing with ABS, ASA, Nylon, and PETG Polymer Filaments

  • characterizes the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printing using these four materials

• Particle emissions from fused deposition modeling 3D printers: Evaluation and meta-analysis

  • Includes citations of 16 other research papers on emissions
  • Shows much higher concentrations from ABS than PLA

• Occupational exposure to gaseous and particulate contaminants originating from additive manufacturing of liquid, powdered, and filament plastic materials and related post-processes (March 2019)

  • This study looked at particulate contaminants from FDM, resin, and powder printing. Formlabs Form 2 printers emitted methyl methacrylate and isopropanol. Total VOC concentration was not high but still an increased level when compared to the background concentration.

• Ultrafine particle emissions from desktop 3D printers

• Investigation of ultrafine particle emissions of desktop 3D printers in the clean room

• An exposure assessment of desktop 3D printing

• Emissions of Ultrafine Particles and Volitile Organic Compounds from Available Desktop 3D Printers

• Related but different: Health Risks of Metal AM Materials