“…The welding fume particles Red1 and Red2 were slightly smaller as compared with F1 and F2. The authors have previously shown comparable particle sizes of welding fumes determined by means of SEM and TEM (Mei et al 2018 ; McCarrick et al 2019 ; Hedberg et al 2021 ). Fig.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 82%
“…All fume particles showed distinct F peaks. This is important since F-compounds can influence the solubility of other metals, including Cr(VI) (Hedberg et al 2021 ). The O peak could for all fumes originate from oxide, hydroxide or defective oxide, and oxygen in silica compounds or organic compounds (e.g.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…However, it was evident that crystalline metal oxides were often overlaid by amorphous surface oxides, Figure S13. The formation of amorphous surface oxide, influenced by the Si content, could be one possible pathway for the solubility of Cr(VI) (Floros 2018 ; Hedberg et al 2021 ).…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Therefore, we measured the Cr(VI) content and the redox potential in cell medium and confirmed the presence of Cr(VI) after exposure to welding fume particles. The authors have previously discussed whether co-released permanganates could stabilize Cr(VI) (Hedberg et al 2021 ). Our redox potential measurements support this hypothesis.…”
Welders are daily exposed to various levels of welding fumes containing several metals. This exposure can lead to an increased risk for different health effects which serves as a driving force to develop new methods that generate less toxic fumes. The aim of this study was to explore the role of released metals for welding particle-induced toxicity and to test the hypothesis that a reduction of Cr(VI) in welding fumes results in less toxicity by comparing the welding fume particles of optimized Cr(VI)-reduced flux-cored wires (FCWs) to standard FCWs. The welding particles were thoroughly characterized, and toxicity (cell viability, DNA damage and inflammation) was assessed following exposure to welding particles as well as their released metal fraction using cultured human bronchial epithelial cells (HBEC-3kt, 5–100 µg/mL) and human monocyte-derived macrophages (THP-1, 10–50 µg/mL). The results showed that all Cr was released as Cr(VI) for welding particles generated using standard FCWs whereas only minor levels (< 3% of total Cr) were released from the newly developed FCWs. Furthermore, the new FCWs were considerably less cytotoxic and did not cause any DNA damage in the doses tested. For the standard FCWs, the Cr(VI) released in cell media seemed to explain a large part of the cytotoxicity and DNA damage. In contrast, all particles caused rather similar inflammatory effects suggesting different underlying mechanisms. Taken together, this study suggests a potential benefit of substituting standard FCWs with Cr(VI)-reduced wires to achieve less toxic welding fumes and thus reduced risks for welders.
“…The welding fume particles Red1 and Red2 were slightly smaller as compared with F1 and F2. The authors have previously shown comparable particle sizes of welding fumes determined by means of SEM and TEM (Mei et al 2018 ; McCarrick et al 2019 ; Hedberg et al 2021 ). Fig.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 82%
“…All fume particles showed distinct F peaks. This is important since F-compounds can influence the solubility of other metals, including Cr(VI) (Hedberg et al 2021 ). The O peak could for all fumes originate from oxide, hydroxide or defective oxide, and oxygen in silica compounds or organic compounds (e.g.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…However, it was evident that crystalline metal oxides were often overlaid by amorphous surface oxides, Figure S13. The formation of amorphous surface oxide, influenced by the Si content, could be one possible pathway for the solubility of Cr(VI) (Floros 2018 ; Hedberg et al 2021 ).…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Therefore, we measured the Cr(VI) content and the redox potential in cell medium and confirmed the presence of Cr(VI) after exposure to welding fume particles. The authors have previously discussed whether co-released permanganates could stabilize Cr(VI) (Hedberg et al 2021 ). Our redox potential measurements support this hypothesis.…”
Welders are daily exposed to various levels of welding fumes containing several metals. This exposure can lead to an increased risk for different health effects which serves as a driving force to develop new methods that generate less toxic fumes. The aim of this study was to explore the role of released metals for welding particle-induced toxicity and to test the hypothesis that a reduction of Cr(VI) in welding fumes results in less toxicity by comparing the welding fume particles of optimized Cr(VI)-reduced flux-cored wires (FCWs) to standard FCWs. The welding particles were thoroughly characterized, and toxicity (cell viability, DNA damage and inflammation) was assessed following exposure to welding particles as well as their released metal fraction using cultured human bronchial epithelial cells (HBEC-3kt, 5–100 µg/mL) and human monocyte-derived macrophages (THP-1, 10–50 µg/mL). The results showed that all Cr was released as Cr(VI) for welding particles generated using standard FCWs whereas only minor levels (< 3% of total Cr) were released from the newly developed FCWs. Furthermore, the new FCWs were considerably less cytotoxic and did not cause any DNA damage in the doses tested. For the standard FCWs, the Cr(VI) released in cell media seemed to explain a large part of the cytotoxicity and DNA damage. In contrast, all particles caused rather similar inflammatory effects suggesting different underlying mechanisms. Taken together, this study suggests a potential benefit of substituting standard FCWs with Cr(VI)-reduced wires to achieve less toxic welding fumes and thus reduced risks for welders.
“…Since the base material only contributes 5-10% to the total fume particle mass, the welding consumable composition becomes most important [14,15]. Fillers containing more Cr typically result in aerosols with higher amounts of Cr(VI) [9,[16][17][18][19]. Other elements of concern are nickel (Ni), iron (Fe), and manganese (Mn) [20][21][22][23].…”
Welding fumes have been found to be carcinogenic and stainless steel welders may be at higher risk due to increased formation of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)). The slag-shielded methods, identified to generate most airborne particles and Cr(VI), would potentially be most harmful. With ever-stricter limits set to protect workers, measures to minimize human exposure become crucial. Austenitic stainless steel flux-cored wires of 316L type have been developed with the aim to reduce the toxicity of the welding fume without compromised usability. Collected particles were compared with fumes formed using solid, metal-cored, and standard flux-cored wires. In part 1, the new wires were concluded to have improved weldability, to generate even less Cr(VI) in wt.-% than with solid wire and to be less acute toxic in cultured human bronchial epithelial cells as compared to standard flux-cored wires. In part 2, two additional institutes created fume emission datasheets for the same wires for correlation with the fume data obtained in part 1. The reported values showed large variations between the three laboratories, having a significant effect on the standard deviation. This is suggested to be the result of different welding parameters and various ways to collect and analyze the fume. More stringent specifications on parameter settings and fume collection would be required to increase the accuracy. This means that at present, it may not be possible to compare fume data on datasheets from two different wire producers and care should be taken in interpretation of values given in the available literature. Nevertheless, the laboratories confirmed the same trends for Cr(VI) as presented in part 1.
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