• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.703-712
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• 1999

In order to determine the number concentration of asbestos, it is initially necessary to develop a method to identify the type of asbestos. Thus a SEM/EDX was used to obtain both physical and chemical information from known asbestos samples as reference samples. Based on these information, we could make a source profile matrix consisted of a glass fiber and 3 other types of asbestos such as chrysotile, crocidolite, and tremolite. After collinearity test was performed for these sources, we could successfully develop an expert system by C-language to separate and to identify various unknown types of fiber particles. The expert system was perfectly self-verified with original reference data. Then the program was extensively applied to survey indoor and outdoor environment such as a residential area, an elementary school, and underground store, and an auto junkyard. As a result for surveying, a total of 442 individual fibrous particles were well classified into 4 types of particle classes above mentioned; 5.4% of chrysotile, 4.1% of crocidolite, 3.6% of glass fiber, and 86.9% of unknown fibers in terms of number concentration. However, tremolite was not detected in the study sites. All the samples were satisfied with the recommendation level of 0.01 f/cc.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.346-356
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• 2008

Asbestos is the name of a group of minerals with long and thin fibers that originate naturally in the environment. Asbestos mainly affects lungs and the membrane that surrounds the lungs. In general, PCM (phase contrast microscopy) and PLM (polarized light microscopy) have been used to analyze asbestos fibers. However, these methods have often problems to over-estimate number concentration when counting real asbestos fibers. Moreover, there are many difficulties when separating and identifying various asbestos and non-asbestos fibers. In order to determine quantitative information on fibrous particles, source profiles for asbestos and non-asbestos fibers must be initially developed on the basis of their chemical compositions and physical parameters. In our study, a SEM/EDX was used to develop source profiles from known asbestos samples as reference samples. We could make the source profile matrix consisting of 6 types of asbestos fibers and 2 types of non-asbestos fibers by analyzing 380 fibers. Based on these profiles, a rule building expert system was developed by using the visual basic application (VBA). Various fibers were successfully classified by 2 simple rules in the EXCEL environment based on several visual steps such as inserting data, viewing results, and saving results. For a case study to test the expert system, samples from a construction materials and from various indoor environments such as a residental area, a preschool classroom, and an underground store were collected and analyzed. As a result of the survey, a total of 76 individual test fiber particles was well classified into 5 different types of particle classes; 9.3% of chrysotile, 15.4% of amosite, 0.8 of crocidolite, 4.2% of tremolite, 5.8% glass fiber, 21.1% of other fibers, and 43.5% of unknown fibers in terms of number concentration. Even though unknown portion was high, it will be decreased markedly when expanding fiber source profiles.