Characterizing Dust from Cutting Corian®, a Solid-Surface Composite Material, in a Laboratory Testing System

• Published in: The Annals of occupational hygiene 2016-06, Vol.60 (5), p.638-642
• Main Authors: Qi, Chaolong, Echt, Alan, Murata, Taichi K
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air Pollutants, Occupational - analysis; Construction Materials; Dust - analysis; Environmental Monitoring - methods; Occupational Exposure - analysis; Particle Size
• ISSN: 0003-4878; 1475-3162
• DOI: 10.1093/annhyg/mew005

We conducted a laboratory test to characterize dust from cutting Corian(®), a solid-surface composite material, with a circular saw. Air samples were collected using filters and direct-reading instruments in an automatic laboratory testing system. The average mass concentrations of the total and respirable dusts from the filter samples were 4.78±0.01 and 1.52±0.01mg cm(-3), respectively, suggesting about 31.8% mass of the airborne dust from cutting Corian(®) is respirable. Analysis of the metal elements on the filter samples reveals that aluminum hydroxide is likely the dominant component of the airborne dust from cutting Corian(®), with the total airborne and respirable dusts containing 86.0±6.6 and 82.2±4.1% aluminum hydroxide, respectively. The results from the direct-reading instruments confirm that the airborne dust generated from cutting Corian(®) were mainly from the cutting process with very few particles released from the running circular saw alone. The number-based size distribution of the dusts from cutting Corian(®) had a peak for fine particles at 1.05 µm with an average total concentration of 871.9 particles cm(-3), and another peak for ultrafine particles at 11.8nm with an average total concentration of 1.19×10(6) particles cm(-3) The small size and high concentration of the ultrafine particles suggest additional investigation is needed to study their chemical composition and possible contribution to pulmonary effect.