3D Printers Shown To Emit Potentially Harmful Nanosized Particles

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3D Printers Shown To Emit Potentially Harmful Nanosized Particles

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday July 20, 2013 @09:57AM from the price-you-pay-for-having-a-plastic-version-of-your-own-head dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A new study by researchers in the Built Environment Research Group at the Illinois Institute of Technology shows that commercially available desktop 3D printers can have substantial emissions of potentially harmful nanosized particles in indoor air. Many desktop 3D printers rely on a process where a thermoplastic feedstock is heated, extruded through a small nozzle, and deposited onto a surface to build 3D objects. Similar processes have been shown to have significant aerosol emissions in other studies using a range of plastic feedstocks, but mostly in industrial environments. In this study, researchers measured ultrafine particle concentrations resulting from a popular commercially available desktop 3D printer using two different plastic feedstocks inside an office. Ultrafine particles (or UFPs) are small, nanosized particles less than 100 nanometers in diameter. Inhalation of UFPs may be important from a health perspective because they deposit efficiently in the lung and can even translocate to the brain. Estimates of emission rates of total UFPs in this study were high, ranging from about 20 billion particles per minute for a 3D printer utilizing a lower temperature polylactic acid (PLA) feedstock to about 200 billion particles per minute for the same type of 3D printer utilizing a higher temperature acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) feedstock. The emission rates were similar to those measured in previous studies of several other devices and indoor activities, including cooking on a gas or electric stove, burning scented candles, operating laser printers, or even burning a cigarette."

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So... How worrying is this, really? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-20 10:00 · Score: 5, Insightful

The emission rates were similar to those measured in previous studies of several other devices and indoor activities, including cooking on a gas or electric stove, burning scented candles, operating laser printers, or even burning a cigarette.
1. Re:So... How worrying is this, really? by Jmc23 · 2013-07-20 13:30 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Something tells me our systems are a little more capable of dealing with biodegradable skin cells than burnt plastic byproducts.
  
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  Don't complain about syntax, grammar, or spelling. There is no.hell like input on android.
2. Re:So... How worrying is this, really? by Jmc23 · 2013-07-20 13:32 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Yes, but how often do you cook plastic?
  One must distinguish between similarity in particle output and similarity in particle composition!
  
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  Don't complain about syntax, grammar, or spelling. There is no.hell like input on android.
Re:Obvious Government FUD by Black+Parrot · 2013-07-20 10:50 · Score: 5, Funny

Actually, if you 3D-print a gun it can potentially emit a harmful normal-sized particle.

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Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
How do they compare to pollen? by istartedi · 2013-07-20 11:00 · Score: 5, Funny

How do they compare to pollen? Are they full of spiky little projectiles that want to burrow into my nasal cavities and cross-polinate with my mucus membranes to create a giant mutant dandelion in my head? No? Then I'm not... ahh, ahhhhh, AH-CHOO!, sniff. worried.

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For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Re:Absolute FUD by wierd_w · 2013-07-20 12:00 · Score: 5, Informative

Yes, Like 100% of laser printers on the market, which use a polystyrene based toner powder, and are potentially much worse for you than that reprap ever dreamed of being.
Since not only does the laser printer flash heat and fuse the toner powder to the paper and release styrenes and other organic nanoparticles into the air, they also frequently leak, and pose a significant powder inhalation hazard!
In other words, if you don't find your laser printer in the file room terribly dangerous, you shouldn't find the 3d printer any more so.