The Composition of Emissions from Sanding Corian® with Different Sandpapers.

Seungkoo Kang,Yong Qian,Huayan Liang,Chaolong Qi

doi:10.4209/aaqr.2020.07.0377

Abstract

Laboratory tests were conducted to characterize the composition of emissions from sanding Corian®, a solid-surface composite material mainly composed of alumina trihydrate (ATH) and acrylic polymer. Three sandpaper materials (ceramic, silicon carbide, and aluminum oxide) were tested to distinguish the contribution of aluminum-containing dust in the emission from Corian® and sandpaper itself. The result can help identify the main cause of the pulmonary fibrosis from exposure to aluminum-containing dust while sanding Corian®. Airborne dust samples were measured using direct-reading instruments and collected using a Micro-Orifice Uniform Deposit Impactor (MOUDI) for estimating the normalized dust generation rate. The size-classified dust samples from MOUDI were analyzed for elemental aluminum content. Additionally, air samples were analyzed for characterizing methyl methacrylate (MMA). The results from the direct-reading instruments reveal that the size distribution of particulate from sanding Corian® differs from that of sawing Corian®, showing that the size distribution of dust is affected by the fabrication process. The normalized respirable dust generation rate indicates that more respirable dust was generated during sanding Corian® board. However, the use of aluminum oxide sandpaper does not result in a higher aluminum content in the respirable dust from sanding Corian®, suggesting that the aluminum content of the respirable dust is primarily originated from Corian® itself. The generation rates of MMA from sanding did not vary much among all types of sandpapers, and they were much lower than that of sawing, likely due to the higher temperature in the sawing process.

Highlights

Corian® is a widely used solid-surface composite material that is often used for countertops
A smaller difference is observed between the size distributions from sanding using different sandpaper materials, with the concentration from the sandpaper of aluminum oxide being slightly higher than the other two
Laboratory tests revealed that 0.6%, 2.5%, 3.3%, and 2.0% of the mass removed from Corian® became respirable dust from sawing and sanding Corian® with sandpapers of silicon carbide, ceramic, and aluminum oxide, respectively

Summary

Introduction

Corian® is a widely used solid-surface composite material that is often used for countertops. Countertop fabrication processes, including sanding and sawing, may pose an occupational risk for workers as they are exposed to emissions containing respirable dust and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Exposure to these emissions is associated with respiratory and cardiovascular morbidity (Brook et al, 2010). A pulmonary fibrosis case associated with exposure to ATH dust was reported for a worker who had worked with Corian® (Raghu et al, 2014). McKeever et al (2014) raised a question whether the main cause of the pulmonary fibrosis was ATH from Corian® or the aluminum oxide from sandpapers. In order to find the main cause of the pulmonary fibrosis, we conducted systematic studies as follows. Qi et al (2016) investigated the emissions from sawing Corian® by measuring the size distribution of the airborne dust and aluminum content in total

Methods

Results

Conclusion