Granulometric Characterization of Wood Dust Emission from CNC Machining of Natural Wood and Medium Density Fiberboard

Richard Kminiak,Alena Očkajová,Martin Kučerka,Lubos Kristak,Tomasz Rogoziński,Petar Antov,Roman Reh,Marta Pędzik

doi:10.3390/f12081039

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to determine the particle size composition of wood dust emission from CNC milling of natural wood and medium-density fiberboard (MDF) and evaluate the associated occupational exposure risks. The paper is focused on some of the most commonly used materials in the woodworking and furniture industry, i.e., solid wood (beech, oak, and spruce) and composite materials (MDF panels). In addition to the influence of the machined material, the effect of the technical-technological parameters, namely, feed speed and depth of cut on the particle size distribution, was also investigated. The selected values of the technical-technological parameters used in this study followed the common work practice in small wood processing companies. The particle size distribution was evaluated by using sieve analysis of samples from the total mass of collected wood dust. The results demonstrated that machining of natural wood is characterized mostly by the formation of coarse dust fractions (2 mm–1 mm sieves), whilst the processing of MDF was associated with generation of fine dust fractions with a size below 100 μm. The results obtained can be used for optimizing the technological programs of CNC milling machines, thus, reducing the occupational exposure to harmful wood dust emissions in the wood-processing industry.

Highlights

The workability of natural wood and wood-based materials is almost always associated with the formation of different fractions of particles that disperse in the air and inside the production premises, posing serious occupational health risks for workers [1,2,3,4,5]
The first level consists of natural wood, in which we can characterize most of the particles as an area with a tendency to roll in the direction of particle separation
The second level consists of composite material medium-density fiberboard (MDF), of which the majority is formed by the dust particles, on the other hand

Summary

Introduction

By-products from woodworking processes, such as sawdust and wood dust, can have adverse effects on human health if they are not sufficiently controlled and effectively aspirated by dust extraction systems [6,7,8,9]. Wood and wood-based material processing plants with improved working conditions can increase the precision of production or the reliability of finished products, strengthening their position on the market [10]. It creates many technical and technological problems for them, and increased dust in the workplace is one of them [11,12,13,14,15]

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