• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.276-282
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• 2007

The purpose of this study is to assess the accurate state of the following: total welding fumes versus welding fumes in the air, respirable particulate mass, and exposure of dockyard welders to heavy metals. In addition, this study provides basic data for proposing improvements to create efficient and appropriate welding environments and to prevent occupational diseases. The subjects of this study were 94 laborers who worked at the block construction sites of large-scale dockyards located in Gyeongnam Province from March 2005 to June 2005. In order to collect samples on total welding fumes in the air and respirable particulate mass from the welders, Methods 0500 and 0600, established by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), were used. The metals within the welding fumes were also analyzed using Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) under Method 7300 from NIOSH. The results of this research are summarized below. The geometric mean concentration of total welding fumes and that of respirable particulate mass were $4.11\;mg/m^3\;and\;3.53\;mg/m^3$, respectively. As a result of comparing the two measurement methods, there were significant differences (p<0.05) between the two groups for Ca, Cu, Cr, and Ni; however, there were no differences in Fe, Mg, Zn, Mg, Pb, and Cd. As a result of the analysis, the correlation between Mn and the concentration of heavy metals in the total welding fumes and respirable particulate mass was found to be -0.29, a significant negative correlation. The correlation between other heavy metals, however, was low. Finally, in the same total welding fumes, the correlation of Fe and Mg was high.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.32-44
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• 2000

The practice of welding stainless steel is known to produce various valance states of chromium. $CO_2$ flux cored arc welding on stainless was performed in fume collection chamber. Content of total chromium and hexavalent chromium in fumes, content of hexavalent chromium in total chromium, solubility of hexavalent chromium were investigated. Content of total chromium in fumes increases from 2~3% to 7~9% as a function of input energy, but hexavalent chromium, less than 1.2% in fumes, is not related to input energy. Hexavalent chromium in fumes exists as solubles up to 90%. Content of total chromium in flux cored arc welding fumes and solubility of hexavalent chromium are similar to shielded metal arc welding fumes, but content of hexavalent chromium is similar to metal inert gas welding fumes. These characteristics are relevant to flux of wires and $CO_2$ shielding gas.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.320-328
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• 2004

A number of health hazards are generated in welding processes. In this paper, the characteristics of fumes and some other hazardous agents in welding are reviewed. Fumes in welding are generated by complex mechanism like physical ejection of particles, oxidation-enhanced vaporization, vaporization-condensation-oxidation, and spatter contribution. Fume generation rates could be described as a power function in a given process. Most of fume constituents was originated from consumables rather than base metal. The mass distribution for the welding fumes is unimodal and very small to penetrate respiratory system. So, almost fractions of fumes are classified into the respirable particulate mass. Total chromium contents in FCAW were similar to those from SMAW whereas hexavalent chromium concentrations in fume were similar to those produced from MIG welding fume. Hexavalent chromium was mostly soluble which was similar to the characteristic solubility of fume hexavalent chromium from SMAW.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.181-195
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• 1997

The purpose of this study was to investigate factors affecting the composition and concentrations of fumes generated from various types of welding processes. The results are as follows. 1. Iron(Fe), zinc(Zn) and manganese(Mn) were predominant in Welding fumes. The Fe content in total fumes was 25.5% in coated electrode and 28.2% in $CO_2$ are welding, and the Zn content was 4.5% and 9.1%, respectively, and the Mn was 3.6% and 7.8%, respectively. 2. It was found that the important factors determining composition and concentration of fumes were type of industries, type of welding processes, type and composition of electrodes, composition of base metals, confinement of workplaces or condition of ventilation, work intensity, coated metals such as lead and Zn in paint. 3. The Mn content in airborne fumes was highly correlated with that of electrode(r=0.77, p<0.01) and was about 4 times higher than that in electrodes or base metals. The results lindicate that Mn is well evaporated into air during welding. The higher vapor pressure of Mn may explain this phenomenon. 4. the airborne total fume concentrations were significantly different among types of industries(p<0.001). The airborne total fume concentration was higher in order of sleel-structure manufacturing($GM=15.1mg/m^3$), shipbuilding($GM=13.2mg/m^3$), automobile-component manufacturing ($GM=7.8mg/m^3$) and automobile assembling industry($GM=3.0mg/m^3$) 5. The airbone total fume concentration was 6 times higher in $CO_2$ welding than in coated electrode welding, and approximately 3 times higher in confined area than in open area, in steel-structure manufacturing industry. 6. The concentration of welding fume outside welding helmet was about 2 times higher than that inside it. It is recommened that air sampling be done inside helmet to evaulate worker's exposure accurately, for it has an outstanding effect on reducing worker exposure to fumes and other contaminants.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.68-72
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• 1991

The present investigation studied the welding fumes produced during the arc welding process at a shipyard. The air at the shipyard was sampled (between February and May, 1990) to determine the total welding fume concentration, its heavy metal content and the concentrations of different sized particles of the welding fumes. The results were as follows : 1. Forty-four out of 50 samples showed welding fume concentrations which exceeding the threshold limit value of $5mg/m^3$. The geometric mean of welding fume concentration was $9.73mg/m^3$ ($2.14-24.86mg/m^3$), and the nighest level was found at the dock assembly shop ($12.0mg/m^3$). 2. The welding fume concentration measured with personal air sampler was 4.2 times greater than that measured with area sampler. 3. Of the heavy metals analyzed, Fe was found to be the most concentrated at $1.29mg/m^3$ ; it constitued 13.3% of the total welding fume concentration. 4. Of the different sized particles that make up the welding fumes, there was a tendency for the smaller particles to be more concentrated. Particles that measured $7{\mu}$ or less in diameter constituted 85.8% of the total welding fume concentration.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.117-129
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• 2002

Concentration of welding fumes and their components is known to be hazardous to welder and adjacent worker. To determine the generation rates of metals in fumes, $CO_2$ flux cored arc welding on stainless steel was performed in well designed fume collection chamber. Variables were different products of flux cored wire(2 domestic products and 4 foreign products) and input energy(low-, optimal- , high input energy). Mass of welding fumes was determined by gravimetric method(NIOSH 0500 method), and 17 metals were analysed by inductively coupled plasm-atomic emission spectroscopy(NIOSH 7300 method). Flux cored wire tube and flux were analysed by scanning electron microscopy to determine their metal composition. 17 metals were classified by their generation rates. Generation rates of iron, manganese, potassium and sodium were all above 50mg/min at optimal input energy level. Generation rates of chromium and amorphous silica were 25~50mg/min. At 1~25mg/min level, nickel, titanium, molybdenum, and aluminum were included. Copper, zinc, calcium, lead, magnesium, lithium, and cobalt were generated below 1 mg/min. Generation rates of metal components in fumes were influenced by input energy, types of flux cored wire. Flux cored wire was consisted of outer shell tube and inner flux. Iron, chromium, and nickel were the major components of outer tube. Flux contained iron, chromium, nickel, potassium, sodium, silica, and manganese. The use of flux cored wire can increase the hazards by increasing the amounts of fumes formed relative to that of solid wire. The reason might be the direct transfer of elements from the flux, since the flux is fine power. Ratio of metals to the fume of flux cored wire was lower than that of solid wire because non-metal components of flux were transferred. Total metal content of fumes in flux cored arc welding was 47.4(24.3~57.2) percent that is much lower than that of solid wire, 75.9 percent. We found that generation rates of iron, manganese, chromium and nickel, all well known to cause work related disease to welder, increased more rapidly with increasing input energy than those of fumes. To reduce worker exposure to fumes and hazardous component at source, further research is needed to develop new welding filler materials that decrease both the amount of fumes and hazardous components.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Toxicology Conference
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• 2003.10b
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• pp.126-126
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• 2003

Welding fume (WF) induces pulmonary disease including pneumoconiosis. To investigate whether reactive oxygen species-induced oxidative DNA damage occurs during welding fume exposure and the upregulation of DNA repair mechanisms is accompanied, SPF SD rats were exposed to welding fumes with the concentrations of 65.6${\pm}$2.9 mg/㎥(low dose) and 116.8${\pm}$3.9 mg/㎥ (high dose) of total suspended particulate for 2 hrs per day in an inhalation chamber for a total of 2hrs, 15 or 30 days.(omitted)

• Toxicological Research
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.55-61
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• 2004

Respiratory effects in full time welders include bronchitis, airway irritation, lung function changes, and lung fibrosis. Welder's pneumoconiosis has been generally determined to be benign and not associated with respiratory symptoms based on the absence of pulmonary function abnormalities in welders with marked radiographic abnormalities. Accordingly, to investigate pulmonary function changes during 60 days induced by welding-fume exposure, male Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to manual metal arc-stainless steel (MMA-SS) welding fumes with concentrations of 64.8$\pm$0.9 mg/$m^3$ (low dose) and 107.8 $\pm$ 2.6 mg/$m^3$ (high dose) total suspended particulates for 2 hr/day, 5 days/week in an inhalation chamber for 60 days. Pulmonary function was measured every week with whole body plethysmograph compensated (WBP Comp, SFT38116, Buxco Electronics, Sharon, CT). The rats exposed to the high dose of welding fumes exhibited statistically significant (p<0.05~0.01) body weight decrease as compared to the control whereas cell number increase of the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) (total cell, macrophage, polymorphonuclear cell and lymphocyte) during the 60 days exposure period. And only tidal volume was significantly decreased in dosedependantly during 60 days of MMA-SS welding fume exposure. This pulmonary function change with inflammatory cell recruitment confirms the lung injury caused by the MMA-SS welding fume exposure.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.99-107
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• 2008

We quantified the human carcinogenic metals (chromium, nickel) in fumes from flux cored arc welding using stainless steel (FCAW/SS) wires. Zinc and calcium were also quantified because of their possibility of zinc chromate and calcium chromate, respectively. Welding was performed in an American Welding Society standard fume collection chamber. Insoluble and soluble forms of metals were analyzed by ISO 15202 method. Total chromium (insoluble+soluble) content and total nickel content were lower in FCAW/SS fumes (4.65%, 1.05%, respectively)than in stainless steel content (ca. 18%, 8%,respectively). Insoluble fraction in total chromium was 79.8 (range 64.5~95.1)% and 94.4(range 90.1~98.1)% in total nickel. Atomic emission spectroscopy used in this study does not differentiate the chromium valence status while ACGIH defines its carcinogenicity according to the valence status. From this study and previous study, we estimated the hexavalent chromium content in FCAW/SS was 0.2~1.1% and about 85% of them was soluble. The content of zinc and calcium, which can be existed as chromate forms, was low (0.02 %, 0.04% respectively) in FCAW/SS. Exposure assessment for zinc chromate and calcium chromate is possible because chromium in both compounds is used as a surrogate even though it is not well known that what compounds of zinc and calcium are formed in welding fume.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.472-481
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• 2015

Objectives: Welding is a major task in shipbuilding yards that generates welding fumes. A significant amount of welding in shipbuilding yards is done on steel. Inevitably, manganese is present in the base metals being joined and the filler wire being used and, consequently, in the fumes to which workers are exposed. The objective of this work was to characterize manganese exposure associated with work area, total and particle size-selective mass concentration, and compare the mass concentrations obtained using a three-piece cassette sampler, size-selective impactor sampler and blood manganese concentrations. Materials: All samples were collected from the main work areas at one shipbuilding yard. We used a three piece cassette sampler and the eight stage cascade impactor sampler for the airborne manganese mass concentration of total and all size fractions, respectively. In addition, we used the results of health examination of workers sampled for airborne manganese. Results: The oder of high concentration of airborne manganese in shipbuilding processes was as follows; block assembly, block erection, outfitting installation, steel cutting, and outfitting preparation. The percentages of samples that exceeded the OES of the ministry of employment and labor by the cassette sampling method was 12.5%, however 59.1% of sampled workers by the impactor sampling method exceeded the TLV of the ACGIH. Conclusions: Even though the manganese concentrations in blood of workers exposed to higher airborne manganese concentration were higher than among those exposed to lower concentrations, there was no difference in blood manganese concentrations among work duration. The data analyzed here by characterizing size-selective mass concentrations indicates that the inhaled manganese of welders in shipbuilding yards could be mostly manganese-containing respirable particle sizes.