Investigation of Ultrafine Particle Emissions of Desktop 3D Printers in the Clean Room

Abstract

It is getting more popular to use desktop 3D printers either at homes or offices, which may emit a large amount of particles when in use. This work aims to obtain accurate size-resolved particle emission rates from both single and two desktop 3D printers in a ten-thousand-level clean room, with acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) for the feedstock. Particle concentrations were measured at three different spots in the clean room. We found that the major size of particles produced by the 3D printers is less than 10μm (PM 10 ). The further it is from the printer, the higher the particle concentrations are. Moreover, the smaller the size of particles, the higher the concentration of particles, with the size ranged from 0.25μm to 0.28μm corresponding to the highest concentration. The maximum value of particle concentration is around 2.5×10 4 /L for single printer and 4×10 4 /L for two printers.

Acute health effects of desktop 3D printing (fused deposition modeling) using acrylonitrile butadiene styrene and polylactic acid materials: An experimental exposure study in human volunteers

“…Therefore, many users of desktop 3D printers at least stay near to the printer. Some researchers described even higher UFP concentration some meters away from the printer, if printing was performed in a clean room without disturbance by users . As a result, the chosen exposure scenario, which might seem unrealistic at the first view, was probably close to reality, at least for printing small objects that can be manufactured within about 1 hour.…”

“…Some researchers described even higher UFP concentration some meters away from the printer, if printing was performed in a clean room without disturbance by users. 50…”

3D-Printed Lab-on-a-Chip Diagnostic Systems-Developing a Safe-by-Design Manufacturing Approach

“…Zhou et al [64] investigated the particle emission rates of commercial desktop 3D printers using several types of ABS as filaments, inside a Class 10,000 clean room. Particle concentration measurements were conducted at three different positions within the clean room, to assess the influence of the relative distance from the printer.…”

“…Coagulation may take place as particles transport away from the printers. After printing completion, the ventilation system was turned on and rapid removal of the particles was achieved [64].…”

3D Printed Lab-on-a-Chip Diagnostic Systems - Developing a Safe-by-Design Manufacturing Approach

“…Consistent results with other studies were presented in terms of the influence of temperature, reporting that higher printing temperatures resulted in higher number particle concentrations. Reversely to [64], measurements inside the well-ventilated workspace indicate that particle concentration fell off significantly while Mendes et al [86] evaluated the emission potential of a low-end 3D printer using PLA and ABS.…”