A Study on Filtration Efficiency of Several Dust Masks for Stainless Steel arc Welding fume

방진마스크의 Stainless steel arc 용접흄 여과효율에 관한 연구

The purpose of this study was to investigate for filtration efficiency of several dust masks, comparing with filtration efficiency certified by KOSHA(Korea Occupational Safety & Health Agency), and to require of the right use of protective respirators. Using a welding fume generator and chamber, several dust masks, which were widely used in the workplaces in korea, were tested for their filtering efficiency for stainless steel arc welding fume. The filtration efficiency testing system consisted of a welding fume generator, a chamber and a filtration unit. The filtration unit was made of a mask which was inserted into the sampling cassette and another sampling cassette, which contained mixed cellulose ester filter paper. These two cassettes were connected with tubing. Stainless steel arc welding fume generator was delivered into an chamber. The welding fume in the chamber was passed into the filtration unit with flow rate of 30 liter/min. The welding fume filtration efficiency was evaluated by gravimetric measurement. Metal concentrations in the welding fume before and after filtration were measured with inductive coupling plasma analyzer. Following results were obtained: Filtration efficiency of welding fume for common hygienic mask was 63.82% and the average efficiencies for A, B, C, D, E, F and G masks were 94.62%, 96.58%, 83.20%, 82.76%, 77.25%, 86.55% and 93.22%, respectively. Our results indicate that dust masks used widely in the welding workplaces in korea are not proper for protecting worker's health and then the use of fume mask should be required.