3-D printer study drills down on potentially harmful emissions
By Ally Marotti Blue Sky Innovation
As the cost of 3-D printers drops and the maker machines
increasingly are found in schools, libraries and homes, experts warn
that the technology may pose unseen threats to users.
According to a study completed by a team at the Illinois Institute
of Technology, typical desktop 3-D printers emit particles and compounds
during printing that federal agencies say could cause cancer or other
ailments.
The study, published last month, looked at five types of
commercially available 3-D printers that print with nine materials.
The study’s leader, Brent Stephens, an assistant professor in
Illinois Tech’s department of civil, architectural and environmental
engineering, said exposure should be limited.
“A good chunk of printers and filaments that are out there we really
should be worried about,” he said. “I think the way people are
introducing these into schools and libraries … that’s what should drive
some of the concern.”
The problem, Stephens said, is that the ultrafine particles emitted
by the printers aren’t often regulated. People breathe in ultrafine
particles all the time — from things like car exhaust, cigarette smoke
and cooking — but it’s the type of particles being emitted that should
raise eyebrows, he said.
The 3-D printers in the study that used a material called ABS
filament (the plastic Legos are made of ) emitted a particle called
styrene, which the International Agency for Research on Cancer has
identified as a possible carcinogen. It also found that 3-D printers
using four other types of materials (nylon, PCTPE, laybrick and laywood)
emitted large amounts of caprolactam, which can irritate the eyes and
respiratory tract, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
“They are small enough not to be caught by our nose hairs when we
breathe them in,” he said. “Not all printers emitted huge, huge amounts,
but about half of ours did emit in what we could call a high emitter
category … so that’s a little worrisome.”
Dr. Jerrold Leikin, director of Medical Toxicology at the NorthShore
University HealthSystem, said these types of particles are most likely
to cause irritation, not cancer.
“These are what we call mucosal irritants, that is, it irritates the
membranes in the lungs, eyes, sinuses and nasal,” he said. “Within the
office, the biggest dangers are to individuals that are predisposed to
pulmonary diseases — asthma, emphysema, those types of things.”
Ventilating these fumes could help, Leikin said, which school labs
likely already do.
The study suggests fixing the problem during manufacturing, as many
users of 3-D printers probably won’t want to invest in installing a
large ventilation system in their offices or homes. Manufacturers should
look to create printing materials that won’t emit harmful particles when
heated, or introduce a filtration system to 3-D printers, the study said.
Some manufacturers already are working on a solution. Kingsport,
Tenn.-based manufacturer Eastman Chemical Co. is working on a line of
co-polyesters that could be an alternative printing material.
3DPrint-Clean, a company in Mountainside, N.J., recently launched a
fully enclosed filtration system that can be put to work with most
standard 3-D printers.
“It basically traps all the fumes and ultrafine particles and allows
you to print in all environments,” said James Nordstrom, founder of
3DPrintClean, who mentioned other studies with similar findings. “It’s
going to schools, libraries, private companies doing prototypes and a
number of others.”
Peter Orris, chief of occupational and environmental medicine for
the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System, said
society should take time to study the effects of new technologies as
they roll out to the public.
“With these new technologies, we need to not only look at how cool
they are from the industrial engineering point of view, but we have to
look at what ought we be doing to be safe from a health point of view,”
Orris said. “We ought to be taking a precautionary approach, especially
in this setting when we are dealing with chemicals we know something
about.” [email protected]
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*================================================ Duane Whittingham -
N9SSN (ARES/RACES, EmComm, Skywarn & Red Cross)
http://www.radiodude.info ================================================*
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